


The Princess Bride

by brunettachoppa687, TTICSY (phantomofthefandoms)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe, Danny is in dresses, M/M, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence, but it fits the au, creepy pamela, some characters are a little ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:07:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4517778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunettachoppa687/pseuds/brunettachoppa687, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofthefandoms/pseuds/TTICSY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Floren, lived a beautiful young man named Dannycup."</p><p>A pompous pep / princess bride au that no one asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Floren, lived a beautiful young man named Dannycup. Danny was the most beautiful boy in the kingdom, but he was also kind and sweet, if a little mischievous, and had long raven hair that fell over his shoulders and large, baby blue eyes that sparkled like gemstones.  Danny lived on a small farm on the edges of the kingdom, alone save for a single stable worker he had hired the year previously.  His name was Vladley.

Now, Vladley was a tall and handsome man, with long silver hair he kept in a ponytail and dark, deep blue eyes like the stormy sea.  He was also far taller and far stronger than young Dannycup.  This made Danny a little jealous of him, so he tended to order Vladley around often.  But no matter the order he gave, Vladley simply smiled back, and said:

“As you wish.”

Vladley, or Vlad as Danny soon came to call him, lived and worked on the farm for two summers, before Danny realised something.  It was just after Danny’s eighteenth birthday, more than the thousandth time that Vlad had done his bidding with that simple phrase, that Danny had an epiphany.  Every time Vlad would say “as you wish,” he was really saying “I love you.”

Danny grew shy and flustered with this new knowledge, and began to refrain from ordering Vlad around so much.  But Vlad would have none of that, and continued to do every task the poor boy could think of, before he even asked.  They danced around each other like this for months, Vlad’s feelings never fading, and Danny’s own beginning to grow.  Soon, Danny became so overwhelmed, that he ordered the man to kiss him.

The elder man smirked.  “As you wish~”

That kiss was the first of many as they became lovers.  They had only been together for a few short months before Vladley decided to leave and find his fortune on the seas; he wanted to give Danny a better life than that of a simple farmer.  He wanted them to be married and live happily, comfortably.  Danny understood this wish and desire, but his heart still hurt to have the man leave him.

“Must you go?” he pleaded.  “We can live just as happily here, we will get by!”

“The farm will not sustain us much longer my love, you know this.”  Vlad replied, holding him close.  “I will return, and claim you as my own.  Then, we will never be apart again.  I promise.”

Unfortunately, not long after Vladley had left, Dannycup received word that the Dread Pirate Plasmius had taken the ship his love had sailed off on.  And Danny knew that pirate captain took no prisoners.  

His love was gone.

Danny became cold and withdrawn, a mere shell of himself.  He allowed his farm to fail, growing thin and frail from lack of exercise and food.  All he did, was sit and dream about the life they could have had.

“I’ll never love again…”

 

~*~

 

Five years later, at the royal palace, the prince of Floren – Prince Dinkerdash – came before his kingdom to present his chosen bride.  Dinkerdash, despite having a name that could make milk curdle and a personality to match, was a barrel-chested teenager whose looks did not match his insides; hair as fair as corn silk, a powerful jaw, and poppy blue eyes.

As they were expected to, the peasants cheered when they saw him come into view on the balcony.  Dinkerdash grinned pompously and raised both hands, “calming” them.

“People of Floren!” he announced.  “Since my dad’s sick, he’s told me to choose a bride!  And so, I have chosen to marry me a woman who once was ‘common.’  Like you guys!”

A smirk twisted his mouth.  “But perhaps you will not find her ‘common’ now.”

Dinkerdash raised his voice.  “Wanna meet her?!”

The crowd – as expected – raised their voices in approval.

“I give you…”

The prince presented a door, down on the level of the peasants, with a sweeping gesture.  “Princess… DANNYCUP!”

Danny hid his distasteful sneer as he walked out of the castle and out amongst the people.  He was dressed in a beautiful blue gown, long black hair braided with daisies and a princess circlet on his head.  He made a beautiful woman, regretfully.  Dinkerdash–or Dash as he asked to be called by his ‘bride’–had insisted he parade as a woman to as not upset the masses.  Danny questioned his intentions to marry him then, but Dash claimed it had been love at first sight…

While being Prince allowed Dinkerdash to marry any one he chose, Danny did not love him.  In fact, Danny absolutely hated the man.  Night and day he schemed to find a way to get away from the prince, but it seemed the prince was well aware of his desire to leave.  The only freedom Danny found was while out riding, even when under heavy guard.

Until one fateful day.

Danny wasn’t sure how, but he had managed to convince the prince to let him go riding alone, so he could think about their upcoming wedding.  The prince allowed it and Danny quickly left.  He planned to ride and ride until he reached the edges of Dinkerdash’s lands, then he would abandon his horse and escape on foot.  Danny’s heart may have gone cold since the loss of his love, but he refused to even think of handing over what was left to a man like the prince.  He still had his pride, and as far as he was concerned, his heart and body only belonged to Vlad.

Too bad he never made it far enough…

As he rode, he was stopped at a crossroad by an odd trio of people.  “Excuse me, miss?” one asked.

Danny paused, raising an eyebrow at the three people.  Two of them were women – one only a bit older than him, the other old enough to be his mother – and one was a huge man that was built like a mountain.  The older woman wore a sword at her hip and was fitted with flexible leather garments and soft kid boots, and the man was dressed raggedly, but they seemed to orient themselves around each other.  The youngest woman – still practically a girl – had long red hair and was dressed like a noble.

“We are from a traveling circus, my lady, and we got separated from the caravan!” the girl exclaimed, looking up at Dannycup with pleading blue eyes.  “Is there a town or a village nearby where we can get directions?”

Danny huffed, looking a little over them in his desire to keeping moving forward.  He was so close!  “No,”  he said, obviously distracted.  “There is no town or anything for miles.”

Those pleading blue eyes turned ice cold.

“Then there will be no one to hear you scream.”

The mountain of a man walked up to Danny, reached over – and everything went black.

 

~*~

 

Down by the river, Jack carried Dannycup’s limp form onto their ship, followed closely by his wife – Madeline Amelia Idelia Bellarose – who glanced back at Jasmine, their eighth niece once removed and quite the smartass.  “What’s that you’re ripping, there?” the French woman asked.

Jasmine – or “Jazz” – scowled over at the woman.  “It’s a uniform from a soldier of Gilder!”

Jack glanced around.  “Gilder?”

“GILDER!  The country across the sea!  The sworn enemy of Floren!  You know, Floren?  THIS COUNTRY?  Sheesh…”

Jazz stuffed the fabric into a crevice of the saddle, slapped the horse’s rear, and boarded the ship, all with a smug smirk on her lips.  “When the prince sees it he’ll suspect the Gildarians have stolen his bride!  And when they find her dead body on the Gilder frontier, his suspicions will be confirmed.”

Jack’s brows furrowed.  “Hey!  You never said anything about killing anybody!!”

The girl raised an eyebrow at him, like he was simple.  “I hired you to help me start a war.  What were you expecting?”

Jack frowned, shaking his head.  He shared a look with his wife before speaking.  “I just don’t think it’s right, killing an innocent girl…”

Jazz’s eyes narrowed dangerously.  “Am I going mad, or did the words THINK actually come out of your mouth?!”

She stepped forward, actually intimidating a man of Jack’s size.  She jabbed a finger at his chest, growling.  “I don’t pay you to THINK, you brainless heap of muscle!”

“I agree with Jack,” Maddie cut in, folding her arms.

“OH, AUNTIE DEAR HAS SPOKEN!” Jasmine mocked, climbing up the ladder to where the swordswoman stood.  “Well, guess what?  You don’t NEED to worry about killing her.  I WILL KILL HER.  And don’t forget this, NEVER FORGET THIS!!”

Jazz poked a finger in her face.  “When I found you, the only person that would reccomend you was so BROKE you were fencing people for the rights to a FLOREN PENNY!!”

Maddie looked like she was ready to bite the little brat’s finger off.  But before she could follow through, Jazz whirled on the woman’s husband, stalking her way up to the giant and shaking that finger at him, too.  “And YOU!  ‘Inventor,’ my left butt cheek, the only thing you were useful for was beating people to a pulp when they tried to steal a ROTTING CABBAGE HEAD from under your FAT NOSE!!”

Jack and Maddie watched her stomp away to the other side of the ship.  Jack huffed and moved over to steer the ship, trying to get his mind off what they were doing…

Maddie climbed down from her perch and approached her husband, a smile twitching at her lips as she attempted to lighten the mood.  “That Jazz, she sure can fuss~”

“Fuss, fuss…”  Jack said aloud, trying to think.  “She sure does like to fuss… at us!”

Maddie chuckled.  “I’m sure she means no haaarm~”

“But she lacks a lot of… charm!”

“You have a great gift for rhyme!”  Maddie beamed, moving to wrap her arms around her husband’s broad shoulders as he steered.  

He grinned.  “Yes yes, some of the time.”

“Hey!”  Jazz shouted from her lazy spot, sitting near the front.  “Enough of that!”

Maddie ignored her, smirking.  “Jack, are there rocks ahead?”

“If there were, we’d all be dead!” he crowed.

“No more rhymes now, I mean it!”  Jazz snapped, sounding more and more pissed off.

“Anybody want a peanut?”

“UGHH!”

 

~*~

 

When Dannycup finally woke up, night had fallen, and he found himself tied up on some random boat…

Great…

He watched the strange trio as they moved around the boat, pretty much ignoring him for the most part; considering he was tied up, they must have kidnapped him.  He snorted, drawing the attention of the younger woman.  She turned to him, sneering a little.

“Something the matter, my lady~?”

Danny smirked, throwing her a little off guard.  “Nothing really, just that you spent all this effort to kidnap me, when I would have come willingly.”

Jack looked at the ‘bride’ in surprise.  “Willingly?  Why?  Aren’t you to marry Prince Dinkerdash, live happily ever after?”

Danny tilted his head back and laughed.  “Seriously?  No.  I was being forced to marry him against my will, I was running away when you caught me on the road.  I still haven’t decided yet if that was good or bad timing…”  

Jazz blinked.  “Your voice… You don’t SOUND like a woman…”

“I’m not,” Danny said with a grin.

“Inconceivable!!”

Danny shrugged.  “The prince would prefer if his ‘adoring’ public didn’t know he had chosen a man to marry.  An UNWILLING man at that…  The dresses are for show.”

He looked down at his bound arms, before looking back at Jazz.  “Can you untie me now?”

“NO!” she barked.

Danny humphed, slumping back in his seat and commencing to ignore everyone.  

Maddie glanced back behind them.

Jazz scowled over at the swordswoman.  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

The older woman glanced back at her niece.  “Well, I just looked over my shoulder and someone is there.”

Jazz blinked.

She got up.  “…What?!”

The redhead rushed to join the French woman at the aft, glaring over the glowing moonlit waters.  There – just at the edge of their sight – the bow of a small, dark ship gleamed in the blackness.

Jazz cleared her throat awkwardly.  “It’s probably just some local fisherman, taking a midnight sail through… eel-infested waters,” she decided.

Dannycup craned his neck to see the ship.  //Odd…// he thought…

 

~*~*~

 

Danny, Maddie, and even Jack saw Jasmine get twitchier and twitchier, watching the ship got closer as the sky lightened from black to grey.  The sun came up over the eastern horizon a few minutes later, and all the way, that small, dark vessel followed them all the way to the edge of the cavernous Cliffs of Insanity.

Danny was terribly curious as to who this stranger following them might be.  He knew it wasn’t Dinkerdash, the man was NEVER this subtle.  As they neared the Cliffs, Danny grew restless with the promise of free movement once more.  

“Hey, will you untie me now?  I mean, don’t I need my hands to climb?” he pried, waving his tied wrists around at Jazz.

“Hahaha!  You honestly think I’m that stupid?!” Jazz cackled, then went back to ordering Jack around.

Maddie glanced back at Dannycup.  “Sorry, prince…ess?” she apologized uncertainly.  “Those ropes aren’t coming off.  The big guy’s gonna be doing the climbing for us.”

“Just call me Danny, miss,” he replied, eyeing the cliffs in concern.  “He’s gonna be able to carry us all to the top?”

Maddie smiled.  “Oh, don’t underestimate my hubby~”

Jack grinned at his wife, only for both of them to duck their heads sheepishly when Jazz yelled at them to keep moving.  Their ship glided up to the edge of the shore; the redhead scrambled around, lugging a big harness over to Jack and tossing it over his shoulders.  The giant quickly went to secure the straps lest he irritate the girl even more.  Considerably gentler than Jasmine would’ve been, Maddie took hold of Danny’s arm and guided him over to the base of the cliffs.

Danny looked up, up, up as various hands secured him to the big man, Jack.  A rope thicker than his entire arm dangled down from the top of those immeasurable cliffs, fading into nothing in the haze of the morning mist.  Dannycup hadn’t ever imagined he might be scared of heights, but at the sight of the massive cliff, he found himself breaking into a cold sweat and a knot like lead settled into his stomach.  

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he felt Jack tug on the rope, pulling himself and the others up with him.  A gush of breath left Danny’s lungs as he clung to the giant for dear life.  After a few moments, he took a peek back down, hissing through his teeth when he saw how far down the ground was now.  

But then he blinked in surprise.

The black ship had docked beside theirs, and there was someone below them…

“Um… who ever that person might be that’s following us?  Yeah, they caught up…”

“What?!” Jazz barked.

She looked down.  Far below, the tiny figure had grabbed hold of their rope… and was climbing!  “Faster!” she ordered Jack.  “Climb faster!!”

Jack did as ordered, and Danny felt a sudden rush of dizziness overcome him from the motion.  He groaned in distress, facing turning green.  “I think I’m going to be sick…”

“Please don’t throw up,” Maddie begged from beside him.  “But if you must, throw up on HIM.”  

She gestured down at the stranger, then did a double take when she noticed how CLOSE he was now.  “Jazz, he’s gaining!”

“Inconceivable…” the redhead breathed, eyes wide.

Sure enough, the figure in black climbing unbelievably fast, holding the entire weight of his body with only his arms as he devoured the distance between him and the kidnappers.  “Why is he gaining on us?!” Jazz demanded.  “Climb faster!!”

“Well, he’s all by himself and I’m carrying three people!” Jack complained breathlessly, dragging them up the rope.

“You were SUPPOSED to be this colossus, you were supposedly this GREAT LEGENDARY THING, and yet he gains!!  Did I mention that your JOB is at stake?!”

“Don’t say that…” the big man whimpered.

Danny, feeling strangely sorry for the big man, tightened his hold around his neck in a mock hug, giving him a small private smile.  “You’re doing wonderfully sir, see?  We’re almost to the top!”

And they were.  Danny found himself quickly dragged up and then away from the edge by one very frantic and irritated redhead.  He was shoved into a nearby boulder; he glared in annoyance at the girl, then watched as Maddie quickly undid the harness from her husband, while Jazz pulled out a dagger and started hacking at the rope.  

SNAP!

The frayed tip of the rope slid over the edge with a hiss against the dirt.  The girl laughed and dived forward in delight, eager to see their pursuer fall.

Only to stare in horror as the strange man clung to the cliff face, still alive.

Jazz’s jaw dropped, scandalized.  “He didn’t fall?!” she exclaimed.  “Inconceivable!”

Maddie joined her at the edge, intrigue in her eyes, before turning to look at Jazz with a raised brow.  “You keep saying that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.”

The stranger glanced up, seeming irritated at the pair of them, then huffed and grabbed the next rock.

“My god, he’s climbing!”

Jazz growled and sheathed her knife.  She stalked over to Danny and Jack.  “Maddie, stay behind until he’s dead,” she ordered.  “If he falls, fine.  If not, stab him.”

“Works for me~”  Maddie said in delight, unsheathing her sword and giving it a bit of a fancy twirl.  It was a simple move, Danny noticed, just something to do out of whimsy or to impress, but he could see the real skill behind such a motion.  She was a talented swordswoman.  “But I’m going to fight him left handed.”

Jazz groaned.  “You KNOW what a hurry we’re in– OH FINE, WHATEVER.  Jack, come on, and you, stay quiet,” she ordered Danny.

Jack spared a concerned glance for his wife.  “Maddie, be careful…” he murmured.  “Men in masks can’t be trusted.”

“I’M WAITING!!”

Danny shot a glance back at the swordswoman as he was dragged away.  He might not like this bossy little redhead, but he liked the other two well enough.  They had at least been somewhat kind to him.  

“Good luck!” he called back.  “Hope you don’t die!”

Then the trio were gone, turning around a pair of boulders…


	2. Chapter Two

Maddie drew her sword and performed a few lunges.

Then, she resheathed it and looked back over the edge.  “Hello!”  she called.  “I don’t suppose you could speed things up?  I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“If you’re in such a hurry, you could lower a ROPE or a TREE BRANCH or make something useful of yourself,” replied an unexpectedly elegant and sophisticated-sounding male voice.

“Yes, there’s a rope right here that I could lower for you!  But how am I supposed to expect you to trust me, since I AM ordered to kill you?”  

Cobalt eyes glanced up incredulously at the woman.  “…Well, that does put a damper on our relationship, doesn’t it?”

Maddie called back.  “BUT!  I can promise not to kill you until you reach the top.”

A rock slipped out from underneath the masked man’s foot.  “That is VERY comforting!” he grunted, struggling to find a new foothold.  “But I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait!”

“I hate waiting…”  Maddie grumbled, walking away for a second before rushing back to the edge.  “What if I gave you my word as a Frenchwoman?”

A snort echoed up the side of the cliff.  “No good.  I’ve known too many French women.”

Maddie thought on that comment before nodding in agreement.  “Is there anything that could make you trust me?”

The man in black huffed and glared up at her.  “Nothing comes to mind.”

Her face set in determination, voice low.  “I swear on the soul of my sister, Alicia Bellarose, you WILL reach the top alive…”

The man in black glanced up at Maddie… analyzing the glittering fire in her eyes… and made a decision.

“Throw me the rope.”

Maddie wasted no time in gathering up the last of the cut rope and tossing it down to the man in black.  Not two minutes later, black gloves grasped the edge of the cliff face, and the stranger pulled himself up and over.  He clambered to his feet, panting for breath from the climb, but still reached for his sword.  

Maddie shook her head, gesturing for the man to sit down.  “No no, catch your breath.  Fighting you now is just unsportsmanlike.”

He glanced the voluptuous woman up and down distrustingly… but sighed, exhaustion getting the better of him.  “Thank you,” he murmured, sitting down.  “Phew…”

Maddie sat down herself, eying the man in curiosity as he he emptied his boot of loose gravel and rock.  “This may sound like an odd question, but do you happen to have six fingers on your right hand?”

The man in black raised an eyebrow at her under his mask.  “Do you always begin conversations this way, my dear?” he asked, half amused and half disbelieving.  He pulled off his other boot and upended it, dumping sand and pebbles out onto the ground.  “I hate to inform you of this, but your social skills could use a bit of work.”

“My sister was killed by a six fingered man… or woman,” was her blunt reply, not caring much for social niceties.  

He nodded.  “Ah.  That would explain things.”

The man raised his right hand, encased in a dusty black glove with five fingers.  “Sorry to disappoint.”

She shrugged.  “It’s alright.  I’ve been searching for a six fingered redhead for years now… You see, this person slaughtered my sister, nearly 20 years ago.”

Maddie drew her sword, showing off its beauty to the man in black.  “This person asked for my sister to create a magnificent sword.  It took her nearly a year till it was done… When the six fingered person returned for the sword, they offered only a FRACTION of the price they promised.  Naturally, my sister refused.  And she was stabbed through the heart…”

Maddie smiled sadly down at the sword in her hands.  “I loved my sister, so I challenged her killer.  And I failed.  I could have died that day as well, but they simply left me with a scar, here,”  She gestured to her cheek, before turning her head to show the other side.  “And here.  All I have left of my sister is this sword… and the memories.”

The man’s cobalt eyes flicked to each of her scars… then down to her sword.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he murmured earnestly.  “I, too, have lost someone I love…”

Maddie smiled bitterly, but in companionship.  “Then you understand some of my pain.”

She stood up, sighing as she did.  “I dedicated my LIFE to swordsmanship, so that when I do find this person again, I will NOT fail.  I will look this person in the eyes, and say “Hello, my name is Madeline Bellarose.  You killed my sister, prepare to die….’”

She released a gush of disappointed breath, shoulders hunching.  “But it has been 20 years now and I STILL have not found them.  I only work for Jazz to pay the bills, there’s not a lot of money in revenge.  I am beginning to lose faith…”

The man in black gazed at her sympathetically.  “Well, I’m certainly not one to say when to quit,” he admitted.  “I have a lot of problems with that, myself.”

He put both his boots back on and proceeded to empty his gloves of grit, as well.  “So, you’ve done nothing but study swordplay?”

“All my life!” Maddie admitted.  “Worked for a circus for a short time as a performer.  That’s where I met my husband.”

She smiled fondly, clearly thinking of said husband now.  “I guess that’s one good thing to come from all of this~”

“That large fellow?  What does he do?”

Maddie grinned.  “Jack?  He’s a bit of a strong man, good with his hands~  Can lift twice his own weight, my gentle giant~”

The man in black chuckled.  “There’s nothing more lovely than being in love, is there…?” he murmured, gazing wistfully down at his hands.

“Speaking from experience?” she asked, slightly teasing.

His cobalt eyes flicked up to Maddie.  “…Yes.”

She frowned at his somber expression…

Then, she stood up and drew her sword.  “I believe we have talked long enough, don’t you?”

The man sighed, rubbing his forehead, then squinted up at her.  “Is there really no way I can convince you to simply step aside?” he asked.  “You seem like a nice lady.  I’d hate to kill you.”

“You seem a nice man.  I’d hate to die!” the swordswoman said with a cocky grin, falling into an easy fencing stance.

The stranger sighed… but he smirked, standing up and drawing his sword.  “I suppose I can appreciate that~” he laughed.  “Go easy on me, will you~?”

The redheaded french woman grinned.  “En guarde~”

There was a moment of quiet… and then she lunged.  The cling of the swords striking each other filled the air loudly, echoing off the rocks and ruins around them.  They danced around each other, both seeming to be equally skilled in sword play.  

Maddie laughed happily, obviously enjoying fighting a worthy opponent for once.  “You are using the Bonnetti’s Defense against me, ah~?”

The stranger smirked.  “Felt it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.”

“Naturally, you must expect me to counter with a Capo Ferro?”

“Naturally,”  he replied.  “But I find that Thibault cancels Capo Ferro, don’t you~?”

“Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa,”  Maddie countered, grinning widely.  “Which I have!”

She suddenly lunged at him with new vigor, but he quickly countered her and she found herself pushed towards the edge of the cliff.  She was still smiling however, even though it looked like he had the upper hand.

“You are wonderful~” she complimented.

The man smirked.  “Thank you, I worked hard to become so.”

She grinned back, sheepishly.  “I would admit that you’re better than me.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because I know something you don’t know~”

“Oh?”

“Yes.  I, am not left handed!”  

Maddie suddenly switched hands and attacked with even greater skill and speed then she had shown before, sending him back as she advanced.  He had to climb up a set of broken stairs among the ruins, retreating from her advance, but he still managed to keep up with her.  This just made her grin all the wider.  She suddenly lunged, pinning him to the edge of the crumbling ruin.

“You are amazing!” the man in black admitted between gritted teeth, trying to keep her from toppling him over the edge or simply cutting his head off.  

She preened under the praise.  “Thank you!  I should be, after 20 years~”

The stranger grunted.  “Oh, there really is something I should tell you…”

“What’s that?”

He grinned wickedly.  “I’m not left handed either~”

The man in black shoved Maddie away, switched hands, and reengaged the swordswoman.  The clashing of steel grew faster and even more furious as she suddenly found herself struggling to keep up, forced back down the staircase of the stone ruin; the stranger’s blade was a silver blur in the air… striking at the pommel–!

Maddie’s blade hit the ground.  

The man in black put his sword at her nose, eyes glittering with mirth.  “Yield~” he smirked.

She knew she had been beat.  With a grimace, the woman dropped to her knees, eyes squeezed closed.

“Please,” she begged.  “Kill me quickly.”

The stranger chuckled.  “I would sooner destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself~” he replied.  “Not to mention I would hate to give your loving husband grief.  However, since I can’t have you running, either–”

He struck her over the head with the pommel of his sword.  WHACK!

Her eyes rolled up and she fell face first in the dirt with a limp smack.

The man in black smiled, amused, then re-sheathed his blade and picked her up, holding her over his shoulder.  Maybe this enormous husband of hers might be quelled if he showed him his wife was alright.  “Please understand I hold you in the highest respect,” he informed her unconscious body, and raced away.

 

~*~

 

“INCONCEIVABLE!!”

Jazz pulled her spyglass from her eye viciously, face red and contorted in rage.  “How did he defeat Madeline?!”  

She whirled on Jack, who had remained silent the entire tame, face expressionless as he looked down at the black speck running towards them.  Danny’s tied hands were held tight in one of Jack’s, but Dannycup felt himself pressing close to the big man, trying to give him some form of comfort.  

That is until Jazz wrenched him from Jack’s side, her face stoney and agitated. “Give me the princess, and YOU,” she snarled at Jack.  “Finish him, YOUR way.  When he comes up around the side there, bash his head in with a rock!”

“Yes, Jasmine…”

Danny cast one last lingering gaze at the poor giant, before Jazz dragged him up the hill and out of sight.  

Jack watched them go for a moment, then looked back at the dark figure drawing closer.  With a heavy sigh he picked up a large rock, twice the size of a normal man’s head, and hid behind one of the large boulders.

Jack may not have been a killer, but he would avenge his wife’s death…

 

~*~

 

A few minutes later, the man in black came around the bend, wheezing slightly from carrying a hundred-and-forty pound woman over his shoulder.  He paused in a clearing and bent over to catch his breath.  “Phew!  I immediately regret this decision… GAH…”

POW!

A loud crack sounded behind him as a rock exploded against the nearby boulder, just where his head had been.  Jack came around the the other side, tossing another rock in his hands.

“I missed on purpose you know,” the giant growled.  “I could have hit you, if I wanted to.”

Jack took another step closer, only to freeze when he finally got a full look at the man.  And the woman he had tossed over his shoulders.  

Jack dropped the rock, eyes wide.  “M-Maddie?”

The man in black looked the giant over.  “My my, I certainly AM glad I brought your wife along,” he murmured to himself.  Exhaling, he took Maddie down from his shoulders, placed her on the ground, and stepped away.  “She’s just fine, good sir, just a bump on the noggin.”

Jack quickly came forward and knelt down next to his wife’s unconscious body, checking her over for himself.  When he found the stranger’s words to be true, he lifted her into his arms and turned to look at the man in black, eyes alight with curiosity.  

“You… You didn’t kill her.  Why?”

The stranger sat down on a rock, still panting.  “For several reasons, foremost of which is that she earned my respect.  That…”

Cobalt eyes twinkled amusedly up at Jack from under the mask.  “And that she was in love.”

Jack’s eyes grew wet with unshed tears, and he smiled gratefully at the man.  “Thank you, sir.  You are a good man…”

Jack frowned then, looking back in the direction Jazz had went, dragging that poor boy with her.  He turned back to the man in black.

“Are you after the princess?  She… he, is not really a princess though…  and I do so regret kidnapping him now.  It… doesn’t seem right, anymore.  He was kind to me, comforted me when we thought Maddie was lost…  You’re not going to hurt him like Jazz plans to, are you?”

The man in black looked confused – and a little lost – as he glanced over the hilltop.

“Confront him, perhaps.  But I’d never wish to hurt him…”

Jack’s brows furrowed in confusion, but he nodded nonetheless.  “You should go then.  Jazz can become… violent, when pushed in a corner.  She may decide to do something drastic, and I do not think young Dannycup is in a good condition to fight.  He was… very thin.”

Dark blue eyes flashed angrily.

The stranger got to his feet, tipped his head to Jack, and ran up the hill.  “Best of luck to you, friend!” he called.  “And please apologize to your lovely wife for me!”

Jack watched the man run up the hill, raising a hand in farewell.  “Good luck, stranger!”

The man in black raced up the hill, moving quickly over its rocky crest, and kept running over the grassy plateau.  He could see shuffling footprints on the ground; they were close.  Even so, it was another twenty minutes before he entered a patch of trees, broke into a clearing…

And there was Danny.

“What took you so long?” Jazz asked with a sneer, sitting on a small boulder with her back erect and her head held high like a queen.  

She had Danny pressed close to her side, blindfolded and tied up, a small dagger pressed close to his neck right under the chin.  In front of them was a large flat boulder, covered with a tablecloth, two goblets, and a bottle of wine.  Jazz had gone to great lengths to appear as if she still had complete control of the situation.  

The man in black took a step closer, only for Jazz to press the dagger harder into Dannycup’s throat.  The younger man growled, struggling slightly in his bonds and the cursed blue dress he was in.  “You just wait, you brat, the moment I’m free I am pressing that dagger to YOUR neck!  See how you like that!”

“Silence!” Jazz snapped, hold tightening hard enough to bruise.  She turned back to the stranger, smile tight and cold.  “Won’t you have a seat?”

The man glanced at Danny… then raised his hands slightly, giving a cordial, if tight-lipped smile at the redhead as he sat.  “You are ‘Jazz,’ yes?  May I call you Jazz?”  

Her eyes narrowed slightly.  “Jasmine will suffice, thank you.”

The stranger’s eyes narrowed back at her.  “Jasmine, then.  I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement,” he said to her, still smiling coldly.

“Hmm, I’m not so sure about that!” Jasmine answered, leaning back a bit in her seat.  “You see, I have the princess, whom you are now trying to steal from ME.  You are trying to take that which I have already rightfully stolen.  Now, I admit you have defeated my swordswoman, AND my giant.  But yet, I still hold all the cards.”

She gestured around them with a cocky grin.  “So what, pray tell, can you possibly offer me that I will agree to, when I am the one with something to lose, hmm?”

The stranger looked at Danny again.

Finally, he seemed to decide on something.  “…You seem like a sharp young lady.”

“I am!”

The stranger smiled.  “In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits!” he announced.  “To the winner goes the princess.  And to the loser?  Death.”

Jazz perked up at this, smiling eagerly.  “For the princess?” she repeated.

The stranger nodded, smirking, making Jazz’s own smile widen.  She couldn’t believe she was hearing this!  “To the DEATH?”

Another nod.  

Jazz chuckled, sheathing her dagger.  “I accept~”

Danny visibly relaxed now that the dagger was gone, but even with the blindfold on, anyone could tell he was glaring something fierce out at the world around him.  The man in black gave a little half-smile at his expression, then took hold of the wine bottle, poured both of the goblets halfway full, and pulled out a small vial from his vest.  He very carefully uncorked it and offered it to Jasmine.  “Smell this, but do not touch~”

Jazz, leaned forward and did as instructed, brows furrowing.  “I don’t smell anything.  A poison perhaps?”

The stranger nodded, still smiling slyly.  “It is called iocane,” he informed her.  “It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadly of poisons.”

“I like the sound of that,” Danny commented, muttering mostly under his breath.  “Any chance you will BOTH slip up and poison yourselves?  Will save me a world of trouble so I can get back to my running away plan.”

Jazz shook him a bit, scowling.  “Quiet, you!”

She returned her focus to the stranger, smile more of a grimace.  “Feisty one, isn’t she?”

“I’m a man.”

“I SAID BE QUIET!”

Jazz huffed, face flushing with agitation.  “FINE, iocane powder, I am aware of it.  What are you suggesting?”

The stranger’s lips twitched in amusement at Danny’s sass, but went on.  “Just what I said,” he replied.  With that, he picked up the two goblets of wine and turned his back on Jasmine – who looked on with bemused interest – and after a moment, placed the goblets back on the table.

But now the vial was empty.

The man in black moved back.  “All right, where is the poison?” he asked, grinning.  “The battle of wits has begun.  It ends when you decide and we both drink.  Then we will find out who is right, and who is dead.”

Danny snorted at that.  “Oh, that sounds ominous…”

Jazz ignored him, focusing her attention on the goblets and the man before her.  She looked unfazed by this game, calm and collected.  “But it’s so simple!” she claimed, gesturing towards the man.  “All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy’s?  Now, a clever man, or woman, would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given.  I am no fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”

She leaned back, still smirking.  “But you must have known I was not a fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow.  “You’re just stalling.”

Jazz cackled.  “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?!”

She leaned forward, eyes wide and a little manic.  “You’ve beaten my giant, which means you’re exceptionally strong, so you could’ve put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.  But, you’ve also bested my swordswoman, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me!”

“You’re trying to trick me into giving away something,” the stranger said, smirking.  “It won’t work.”

Jasmine gestured wildly, nearly hitting Danny in the face with her frantic movements.  “BUT IT HAS WORKED!  YOU’VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY!  I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!”

“Then make your choice.”

“I will!  I choose–wait, what’s that over there!?” she gestured behind the stranger, eyes wide and expression fearful, causing him to look behind him out of curiosity.  

While his back was turned, she quickly swapped the goblets, a sly smirk on her lips.

The stranger turned back around, frowning.  “I saw nothing.”

Her brows furrowed.  “I could have sworn I saw something… Oh well, it is no matter!  Come, we will drink now!  Me from my glass, and you from yours~”

The man in black raised an inquisitive brow under the mask, but smiled nonetheless and took hold of his goblet.  He raised it to Jasmine.

“Happy afterlife~” he hummed.

And he took a measured swallow.

Jazz’s grin was sharp and predatory as she watched him drink, before downing her own goblet with a lively chuckle.  

The stranger lowered his cup and placed it neatly back on the rock, lips curved up.  “You guessed wrong~”

Her laughter only grew louder.  “HA!  You only think I guessed wrong!  That’s what’s so funny!”  

She pointed at his goblet victoriously, head held high.  “I switched glasses when your back was turned!  Ha ha!  You fool!”  

Her grin became a sneer, cocky and prideful.  “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders – The most famous of which is ‘never get involved in a land war in Asia’ – but only slightly less well-known is THIS!!  ‘Never go in against a Sicilian, when DEATH is on the line!!’”

She tilted her head back and laughed, face flushing with her maniacal glee.  “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha HA–”

Her smile froze to her face and her eyes rolled up into her head, and she fell from the rock, dead before her head hit the ground.  

THUD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for killing Jazz of in this but uh... well, she deserved it in this story I think.


	3. Chapter Three

The man in black glared flatly at the redhead’s corpse.

Then, he eyed Danny and stood up.  Walking over to the young man, he snatched the short dagger from Jasmine’s sheath and cut his ropes.  Once his hands were free, Danny wasted no time in removing his blindfold, looking down at the dead girl with an expression of satisfaction.  “Oh good, she’s dead.  And to think, this whole time it was your own glass that was poisoned…”

The man didn’t look up from Danny’s hands, busy massaging the blood back into his wrists.  “They were both poisoned.”

Danny blinked, head whipping down to stare at the man’s large gloved hands where they enveloped his own.  Such a touch… was something Danny hadn’t felt in a while…

After a moment of shock, Danny gently took his hands back, turning his face away from the stranger, voice small.  “Thank you…”

Suddenly, his eyes alighted on the small dagger, and before the man in black could stop him, Danny had swiped the dagger from him.  But instead of using it against him, as the man suspected, he instead…

Began to hack away at his dress?

“Damn stupid thing!  Can’t walk in this worth a damn, I hate it!”

He cut and cut at the dress until the skirt was so skirt it was just barely longer than a tunic, just reaching his thighs, leaving his legs bare as his riding boots only came up under the knee.  He cut at the constricting sleeve as well, letting the fabric flow free from his arms.  He finally stopped, releasing a relieved sigh.  

“So much better… If I could burn this thing, I would…”

The man in black sighed wistfully – then took Danny’s hand.  “Come.  Dinkerdash no doubt followed your kidnappers to this coast,” he told him, pulling the pretty young man along.  “This way.”

Danny, for the moment, followed along eagerly.  He had no desire to be caught again by the prince, and if that meant traveling with this masked killer, then so be it.  

 

~*~

 

“There was… a big fight!”

Dinkerdash moved through the gravel of the rocky terrain – the site of, indeed, a “big fight” between two swordsmen – his small entourage holding his horse behind him.  Among them were a dozen of his best archers, another dozen cavalrymen, and his right-hand advisor Pamela Manson.  Pamela was an eerily cheery middle-aged woman with a well-shaped head of red hair, an omnipresent, toothy smile, and the eyes of a killer.

The prince hopped up on a rock, examining the footprints.  “They were both masters, totally.  They went all over the place!”

“Such keen eyes you have, your majesty~!”  Pamela cooed, bringing her horse closer to where the prince stood.  Her voice was high and sickly sweet, sophisticated yet annoyingly perky. “You are such a skilled tracker.  Can you tell which way they went?”

Dinkerdash straightened proudly.  “They’re heading for Gilder!” he announced.  He jumped back up onto his horse and galloped off.  “Hold on, princess!  I’m comin’!!”

Pamela and his men quickly rode after him, the sound of hoofbeats filling the air and drowning out any other sound…

 

~*~*~

 

“Can we stop, please?!”  Danny begged, tripping over his own feet as weariness set in.  They had been running for a hours now and after the last few days Danny had had, he was ready to fall over and never get back up again.  It didn’t help that Danny had allowed himself to fall so drastically out of shape, eating less and less and hardly ever sleeping.  And with Dinkerdash keeping him cooped up in that castle the last few months…  Well, even Danny was embarrassed and saddened by the state he was in.  

“I can’t run anymore!”

The man in black seemed to growl, but slowed to a stop and let Danny sit.  “Catch your breath, then, but we must keep going.”

Danny rested against the rock, panting heavily as he tried to get his breath and energy back.  After a moment, he looked over at the dark stranger in curiosity, as well as a small hint of fear.  Besides, he knew this man had killed someone to get to him.  He wasn’t sure what all the stranger was capable of…

“You’re not… you’re not going to kill me, are you?  Like she was planning to do?”

The stranger huffed and propped his hands on his hips, pacing slowly back and forth, glaring at the ground.  “No, pretty one, I am not.  You are much too valuable to kill.”

Danny stiffened, eyes widening as he moved away from the man slowly.  “You’re going to ransom me back to him, aren’t you?”

He slid off the rock, walking precariously close to the steep hill’s edge as he tried to put more space between the man–a pirate, he now assumed–and himself.  “No, I can’t allow that!” the young man snarled, panic and anger and fear driving him to renewed strength.  “I won’t go back, I won’t!  You can’t make me go back!”

The stranger whirled on him.  “AND WHY NOT?”

Danny recoiled at the hiss in the man’s voice; the black-clad pirate stalked up to Danny, grabbed his wrist, and yanked him close.  “You WENT there willingly, didn’t you?” he muttered.  “YOUR HIGHNESS?”

“NO!”  cried Danny, yanking on his arm as he tried to fight his way out of the larger man’s grasp.  “I never wanted to marry him!  My heart belongs to another!  But the prince wouldn’t hear me, he didn’t care!”

Danny’s head fell forward, shoulders shaking.  “He’s the prince, the law bends to his will.  I could only politely decline for so long before… before he threatened to take away my farm and burn it to the ground…”

His eyes squeezed shut.  “That farm… is all I had left of my love…”

There was a moment of still silence… before Danny began to struggle again, thrashing and snarling in the man in black’s grasp.  “And even so, I never intended to marry that fool of a prince!  I was going to run away!”

The stranger released him quickly, less furious than before, but not appeased.  “Why?” he demanded bitterly.  “Your so-called ‘love’ is gone, yes?  Why not live in splendor if you cannot have a poor, dead farmer?”

“Because I promised!”  Danny wailed, pain and anger clear on his face, black hair whipping around on the harsh wind and clinging to his pale cheeks.  “We promised to only ever belong to each other, I promised to wait for him, to only ever belong to HIM!”

He stumbled back and fell onto the rock he had been sitting up previously, face cast downwards.  “You mock my pain… you must know nothing of love.  When I heard word of his death, I too died that day, and promised… promised to never love again.  I will always be his, even in death…”

Behind his dark mask, the stranger’s face sobered – softening as he saw the honest damage he had done.

“You truly loved him.”

Dannycup refused to look at the man, simply nodding in answer.

The man in black looked back the way they had come.  Seeing no sign of pursuers, he adjusted his sword hilt and sat down against a log, eyes gazing up at the cloudy sky.  “To claim the love of one such as you, he must have been one extraordinary peasant,” he commented.  “If we have nothing else to speak of, I have no particular love for royalty, myself.  Tell me about this man of yours.”

Danny remained silent for a moment, unsure whether he wished to share his memories with someone such as this.  But finally, he saw no harm in it, and spoke.  

“He was more than a farmer…”  He murmured.  “He was handsome and strong and so smart.  Smarter than me…”

Danny laid down on the rock, looking up at the blue sky, letting his mind wander on happier days.  “He was a farm hand, I hired him not long after I bought my own land.  I was… jealous, of who he was.  How tall, how handsome, how smart… I abused my position as his lord for a long time, longer than I am happy to admit.  I ordered him around, gave him the nastiest of chores… And all the while, he did it with a smile…”

Danny sighed, eyes closing as he remembered those summer days.  “I can still remember the moment I realized he loved me… and I was already so deeply in love with him, that I had blinded myself with it…”

 

~*~

 

_Dannycup had been scrubbing the pottery in his sink absently, mind fluttering to long silver hair and a quiet smile and those thoughtful, intelligent blue eyes of his Vlad… when Vladley himself entered the room.  He was dressed in a loose, flowing shirt that had once been white, and he carried the pleasant scent of fresh hay and upturned earth with him; he remembered the way he looked like it was yesterday.  Danny startled, turning to face him with a blush high on his cheeks._

_“The fields have been sowed, little lord,” Vladley murmured, smiling softly at Danny – and began to leave again…_

_“Wait!”  Danny called, desperate to keep the man there a little longer._

_The man paused in the doorway.  The boy looked around his home, frantic to find something for Vlad to do.  “Um, could you, uh…”_

_His gaze alighted on a large pot, hanging high from a rafter, just out of Danny’s reach.  Perfect, he had been meaning to wash that anyway!  “Could you fetch me that pot?” he asked quickly, too quickly.  He flushed, averting his eyes.  “P-please?”_

_Vladley glanced at the pot… then chuckled lightly, shaking his head._

_Still, he walked over to Dannycup.  Standing before the young man – blue eyes never leaving blue – he reached up with one big, rough hand, took the pot off its hook, and handed it to Danny… stroking his hands gently over the boy’s as he let go._

_“As you wish…” Vlad whispered._

_Danny looked up into those dark, clever eyes, and knew…  there was no one else for him but this man, and never would there be another like him.  For the longest moment, Vlad stayed close, watching him, before he silently began to withdraw._

_Before he could, Danny dropped the pot with a loud clatter, his now free hands grasping at the man’s larger ones.  “Vladley…”_

_The man stopped, sensing another order from the young man’s lips.  Danny’s head was bowed, hiding his flaming cheeks and shy baby blue eyes._

_“Kiss me.”_

_Slowly, Vlad’s hands pulled out from between his grasping ones._

_For an instant, Danny crumpled in on himself in humiliation – but then, those loving hands returned to him.  He felt his head tipped upwards, and a pair of chapped, but warm lips press soundly again his own.  Danny’s eyes fluttered shut and he sighed into that gentle kiss, losing himself to the larger man and his touch._

_That night, Vladley dined with Dannycup in his home, not as a servant but as an equal.  They curled up by the fire and Danny fell asleep in the large man’s arms, never before feeling as safe and loved as he did then.  Danny never ordered his lover to do anything again, instead asking him sweetly and with many kisses.  From that night on they were lovers, and while they shared a home and a room and a bed, Vlad had yet to claim Danny as his own, wanting to marry the youth first._

_Which is why Vlad left him not long after, sailing away to seek his own fortune so that he may marry his little love, and provide for him all he desired…_

_Only he never returned…_

 

~*~

 

“His ship was attacked by the Dread Pirate Plasmius.”  Danny explained, voice becoming hollow and empty.  “It sank… and there were no survivors…”

“Ahhh…”

Danny blinked, glancing over at the stranger; he’d almost forgotten he was there.  “‘Vladley,’ hm?” the man commented.  “Strange name.  Murdered by PIRATES, eh?”

Danny’s brows furrowed in confusion, before shooting up in shock.  His eyes widened in horror, face going pale and his hands began shaking in fear and rage.  He sat up quickly, almost dizzyingly, and turned to face the dark man.  

“You’re him.  You’re Dread Pirate Plasmius…  aren’t you.”

The stranger grinned over at Danny.  “Why, yes indeed!  And you say your man was SMARTER than you~”

Danny began to quake, looking nauseous and betrayed.  Here he was, sharing his most treasured memories of his lover, with his KILLER.  The man who had taken Vladley from him!

His lips trembled as the urge to cry crept up his throat, but he willed it back, refusing to show this monster any weakness.  He had done enough of that already today. “You fiend…” he hissed.  “You vile man, you let me sit here and pour my heart to you, only to reveal yourself at the last moment as the man who destroyed my world!”

“You’re the one who figured it out.  I hardly ‘revealed’ myself.”

Danny recoiled, turning his face away from the pirate and hid behind a curtain of his long black hair.  “He died well,” the Dread Pirate said, standing and resuming his aimless pacing.  “No screaming or blubbering.  He only said ‘please.’”

His dark eyes seemed lost in nostalgia for a moment.  “‘Please, I need to live.’”

He glanced at Danny.  “Does it make you feel better to hear that?”

Danny just glared at the man, refusing to say another word to him.  “It was the ‘please’ that caught my eye,” the pirate continued, undaunted.  “I asked him why he wanted to live so badly, and guess what he told me?  He told me about a lover of exceeding beauty and faithfulness.”

The Dread Pirate sat next to Danny.  “I assume he meant you… for despite your situation you ARE indeed, faithful.”

He interlaced his fingers and settled his chin on them.  “I wonder how he might have felt if he had lived to discover his lover had been stolen away,” he murmured.

Danny flinched away from the man, standing quickly from the rock.  For a split second, Danny didn’t know what to do.  He wanted to turn around and attack this man, kill the man that took his whole world from him.  But what would that accomplish?  He had no power against him, no strength and no weapons…

And it would not bring his Vladley back…

So Danny did what he had been trying to do for months.

He ran.  Ran away from his fears and his pain and his anger, away from the prince and the man who killed his lover, away from the memories that haunted him and taunted him of a life that could have been.  Tears streamed down his face, nearly blinding him as he ran with all his limited strength, desperate to just get away…

Sadly, Danny didn’t get very far.  After a few miles he could run no more, still too weak, too malnourished and too tired.  He soon lost feeling in his legs and he stumbled.  He fell to the ground in a heap, sobs wracking through his body.   

Long minutes passed, where Danny’s crying and the soft sway of the grass in the wind were the only sounds across the fields of Gilder…

Then, Danny heard a pair of boots walk up to his side, crunching in the grass.  

A bare hand – not gloved, but bare and calloused – touched his back and rubbed his shoulder blades gently.  Danny tried to flinch away from the hand, curling in on himself.  He had no strength left in him.  He couldn’t move away, his legs and his arms as limp as a puppet’s limbs.  He just wanted to be left alone, why wouldn’t they just leave him alone?  First the prince, then his kidnappers, now his own lover’s murderer…

Why wouldn’t they let him mourn and die in peace?

After a moment, the pirate’s hand stopped moving.  “Do you really want me to leave you?” he asked quietly.

“YES!”  Danny wailed, voice cracking from his sobs.  “Please, just leave me alone!  Let me go!”

There was a moment of silence…

Then, he heard the man sigh quietly – but somehow choked – and stand.  His hand left Danny’s back.  “Very well…”

Something was placed beside the youth’s hand.  A mask.  Danny stared at it, fingers reaching out to curl around the dark fabric, not understanding why the man would leave it…

Those boots began to walk away.

“As you wish…” Vladley whispered.

Danny whipped around, blue eyes wide.  He sat up so quickly he rubbed his hands raw against the gravel of the hills, uncaring of the burn in his palms.  His face was pale and tearstained, and his eyes were still wet…  but there was so much hope there now, mixed with the pain.

“V-Vlad?…  It… it can’t be possible… I…”

Danny tried to stand, tried to follow the man as he retreated from him, but he fell again, legs completely giving out on him.  The fall sent him sliding down the hill a bit, hiking his cut up skirts up past his thighs, his legs getting the same scratched up treatment his hands had gotten.  He cringed a bit from the pain, but his focus was on his ghost of a lover.  

He clawed at the hill, fighting to remain upright as he called out to the man, desperate and afraid that if he lost sight of him, he would truly be gone forever.

“VLADLEY!”

Vlad stopped, whipping around with wide, dark eyes.  “Danny?” he whispered.

Seizing on that hope – ANY hope – that his beautiful little lord still wanted him, the silver-haired pirate raced to the young man’s side.  “DANNY!” he cried, scooping him up and peppering his lover’s face with kisses.  “Oh, I prayed you wouldn’t hate me!  I’m so sorry it took so long to return to you!  I had no idea any of this would happen, I’m so sorry…!”

Danny cupped his lost lover’s face in his hands, returning each of his kisses with his own.  Tears ran down his cheeks, but these were of joy rather than grief.  He finally pulled back so he could get a good look at the man’s face, running a hand through his silver locks, down his strong jaw, over the new, soft beard at his chin…  Then he pulled his hand back.

And slapped him.  WHACK!

“You cruel, cruel man!” Danny exclaimed, fire in his eyes as new passion for life returned to him.  “Taunting me like that!  Did you honestly think I had moved on WILLINGLY??  And then you make me wait, for five years, thinking you were DEAD!  And when you return, you pull this STUNT?!”

Danny slapped him again, but this time eased the sting with a desperate kiss.  “I thought you were gone forever… I thought I would never see you again…  Oh, Vlad…”

Vlad cupped Danny’s face in his hands, running his fingers through that long, lush black hair, like he always loved to do.  “I’m sorry, I truly am, it was out of my hands just as the prince’s proposal was out of yours…” he whispered, kissing his mouth again.  “I do deserve your wrath, my little lord…”

Danny shook his head, smiling sadly.  “I’m not your lord any longer I’m afraid…”

He pulled back a bit from the man, sighing.  “Dinkerdash kept good on his threat.  The first time I tried to run away, he locked me in the castle for over a month… and my farm was removed from my title.  It’s not mine anymore.  In fact, I don’t think it’s even there any longer…”

Danny’s smile was bitter sweet.  “I have nothing to my name now.  We are equals or… in fact, I think I’m even below you in standing now…  Well, if you don’t consider me a princess that is,” he ended with a small sneer.

The larger man chuckled and bowed Danny’s head, placing a soft kiss in his hair.  “You will always be my lord.  My little princess bride~”

Vlad picked up Danny bridal-style and began to walk once more.  “Come!  I have much to tell you, but first, we must find shelter,” he said, eyes on the hazy line of black trees on the horizon.  “And I have a good idea of where we can be safe…”

Danny looked towards the trees, eyes widening marginally.  “The Haunted Swamp?  Are you sure we’ll be safe there?”

“Trust me, my love.”

Danny beamed up at Vlad, snuggling into the large man’s chest as they neared the tree line.  “Always, Vladley.  Always~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dash is such a stupid F-boy in this... and Pamela is so CREEPY, omg I love her, huehuehue~


	4. Chapter Four

The sun was setting when a column of horses and men crested the same hill.  Dinkerdash yawned, squinting through the fading light.  “Ugh, I hate open fields…” he muttered.  “It’s just too EASY…”

Pamela rode over to stand beside the prince, perky smile and bubbly personality a vast difference to the tired and worn out men.  “Have you spotted the trail already, your majesty~?”

The blonde snorted tiredly.  “They’re headed dead into the Haunted Swamp.”

He grinned at his own joke and glanced back at his men for a laugh.  “Get it?  ‘DEAD’ into the Haunted Swamp~?”

A very half hearted chorus of laughter met his ears, but it was enough to satisfy Dinkerdash; he yawned again and scowled, turning his horse away from the setting sun.  “I’m tired.  We’ll camp out tonight and circle around to the other side in the morning,” he drawled.  “If they die in there… I guess I’ll be upset.  I dunno.  Who’s got my wine?”

“I do, your majesty~!”  Pamela beamed, leading the prince over to nearly completed tent.  “You need your rest, my lord!  And tomorrow, you will be reunited with your princess~”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.  And HER saucy tongue will give me a HEADACHE, as always.”

 

~*~*~

 

Night fell swiftly, cold wind sweeping over the plains of Gilder.  Under the ancient trees of the Haunted Swamp – the most infamous forest for a thousand leagues in any direction, claimed to be haunted by the hundred of people that had died attempting to seek refuge under its dark boughs – no wind blew.  No owls hooted.  No rodents scurried through the underbrush.  Only the wind, whistling through the old, mossy trees like the howls of tormented souls.

However, beneath the boughs of a tree older than Gilder itself, Vladley had built a crackling fire for his Dannycup, who was snuggled happily within his long black cloak.  

The older man poked the blaze with a stick… then added it to the fire and returned to Danny’s side.  “There we are~” he murmured, snuggling in with him under the cloak.  “It’s surprisingly homey now, isn’t it~?”

“As long as I’m with you, I’m home…” Danny replied, cuddling close to his older lover.  He constantly made physical contact with the man, afraid to let him go.  He looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.   “I’ve missed you so much, Vlad…  Why were you gone for so long?  What happened while you were at sea?”

Vlad smiled, stroking Danny’s hair.  “It’s actually a funny story~” he replied.  “See, I didn’t lie when I told you I was the Dread Pirate Plasmius.”

Danny whirled on him in shock, nearly straddling his lap.  “WHAT??”

That started a laugh out of Vlad.  “Calm down, milord~!” he told him, hands coming up to gently squeeze the young man’s hips.  “Let me explain… You see, I didn’t lie about the ‘please’ either.  Plasmius looked me over, then told me to go pick out a bunk and sleep tight ‘lest he kill me in the morning…’ For three years he told me that.  I was learning sword fighting and marauding.  It was very educational!”

His face sobered.  “My thoughts never strayed far from you, my love, but attempting to escape was out of the question…”

Danny nodded, although shakily.  “I… I understand.  I do!  I’m just… so glad you’re alive.  HOW are you alive?  I thought… I was told he takes no prisoners, that no one survives…”

Vlad shrugged.  “For the most part, it was true, I admit,” he told him.  “It was a delicate balance between Plasmius and I for a long time – which is why I didn’t dare step out of line – but eventually he and I became friends, against all odds!”

“Friends with… a pirate?”  Danny asked, shocked.  “That’s… very hard to believe, but here you are!”

He frowned, brows furrowing as he settled into Vlad’s lap, sitting sideways so he could press as close to him as possible.  “But wait, I thought you said YOU became the Dread Pirate Plasmius… how can that be, if HE was Plasmius?”

“That was the amusing part.  You see, after three years, Plasmius pulled me aside and he told me a secret.”

Vlad grinned.  “‘I am not the Dread Pirate Plasmius,’ he said.”

Danny laughed at the voice Vlad made, enjoying how the man was falling into his ‘storyteller’ mode, as Danny liked to call it.  He laid his head on Vlad’s shoulder, listening intently.  “Well if HE wasn’t Plasmius, who was?”

Vlad smiled.  “It seems that the title of Plasmius was a hand-me-down, you could say,” he said, resuming his soft stroking of Dannycup’s hair.  “The Plasmius I met wasn’t the original, though.  His name was William Lancer.  His predecessor wasn’t the original either!  No, the original Dread Pirate Plasmius retired fifteen years ago and is living like a king in some tropical paradise somewhere.  Either way, Lancer was ready to retire.  So we docked and took on a whole new crew, but Lancer became first mate and I the captain.  For half a year, he stayed on board, all the while calling me ‘Plasmius.’”

Danny blinked up at him in wonder.  “He handed you a legacy…”

Then his grin turned saucy, eyes lidded and a hint of a purr in his voice.  “Look at that, my lover became the famous Dread Pirate Plasmius~  Looks like you found that future and fortune for us after all!”

Vladley smiled, bringing Danny up for a solid kiss on the mouth.  “Yes~” he purred.  “And now, I’ll pass on the title so we can be together.”

Danny laughed into the kiss, looking up at his lover with mischievous eyes.  “Now why would you go do a thing like that~?  If you ask me, living an adventurous life as a carefree pirate, only to later retire at our leisure, sounds like a WONDERFUL life for us~”

He moved to straddle Vlad’s waist again, fingers tangling in his long silver hair.  “Take me with you… Take me out onto the sea and show me places I’ve never seen.  I want to have adventures with you, see the WORLD with you…  It will be perfect.”

Vlad gazed up at Danny – absorbing his beauty, so illuminated in the firelight – and sighed happily, his hands stroking over the young man’s body.  

“I missed you…” he murmured.

Danny smiled, leaning forward to nuzzle a kiss from the man.  “And I missed you…”

Vlad kissed him back, touching his face to keep him close.  “Once we return to my ship, I’ll give you the ring…”

The young man smiled at that, gazing down at Vlad with pure sweetness, but shook his head.  “I don’t need a ring to be yours, my love.”

To prove his point, Danny reached down to the ends of his frayed and torn dress and pulled off a single piece of blue thread.  He tied the thread around his ring finger with a little bow, then turned his hand to show Vlad, proud smile on his face.  “See?  I know I’m yours, and as long as we say we’re married, then we are in our hearts…”

He leaned forward, placing little butterfly kisses on Vlad’s cheeks.  “We said our vows all those years ago back on that farm…  Let no one claim otherwise…”  

Vladley smiled softly, touching Danny’s lips.  “No one…” he murmured.

 

~*~*~

 

The next day, Vlad and Danny came stumbling out of the Haunted Woods and into the bright sunshine.  They were both smiling, laughing softly in simple enjoyment of being in each other’s presence…

Only for those smiles to vanish as they were stopped at the edge of the woods by a line of armed guards.  

Danny took a step closer to Vlad, glaring venomously at the blond man that stood in front, seated high on his horse.  “Dinkerdash…”

The prince drew his sword.  “Give up, man!  You don’t know what you’re dealing with!” he declared, pointing the tip at Vlad.  “Surrender!”

Vlad unsheathed his own sword, eyes narrowed and a dark smirk on his lips.  “You mean you wish to surrender to me?” he asked.  “Very well, I accept.”

Danny couldn’t help but snort at that, unfortunately drawing attention to himself.  He held his high and made it VERY clear he was not being held against his will.  “Really Dash, put that thing down before you hurt yourself.  We both know very well you’ve trashed every one of your fencing lessons.”

He smirked at Vlad.  “Poor boy has two left feet and no balance at all~”

Vlad didn’t take his eyes off Dash.  “Good, then I can make short work of him,” he replied, with the icy chill of a viper.

The prince paled a little bit and swallowed, scowling.  “Surrender!” he repeated.

“It’s not going to happen.”

Soft rustling and the clicking of the notches of crossbows caught Danny’s attention; a dozen archers had surrounded them from the back, feet pushing through the leaves as they trained their weapons on Vlad’s head.  “For the last time, SURRENDER!” Dinkerdash yelled, getting flustered.

Danny took Vlad’s free hand, glaring defiantly back at the prince.  “Death first!”

Dash sat back, aghast.  “You’re SIDING with this guy??”

Danny simply nodded, eyes hard and proud.  

Dinkerdash watched him for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.  “Clearly you have been brainwashed, or simply suffer from an attachment to your captor,” he decided, sheathing his sword.  “Never fear, my love, I will save you from even yourself!”  

The young man startled when he saw the other guards begin to close in, trapping them.  He quickly bent down and picked up a big fallen branch, putting his back to Vlad’s as he got ready to defend himself.  Of COURSE Dash would only ever see what he wanted to see, the stupid, selfish oaf!  Danny should not feel as surprised as he did…

With a signal from the prince, the guards rushed forward.  Danny manage to knock a few in the head and escape being grabbed, but while Vlad was busy fighting the rest, it was easy for him to get separated from his older lover.  Danny turned with a gasp when he saw Vlad battling THREE men at once, and moved to once more aid him.

Only for a muscular arm to wrap around his middle, and yank him off his fit and onto the prince’s horse.  

“No, let me go!”  he cried, struggling.  “Vladley!”

“There we are, baby doll!” Dinkerdash proclaimed, holding Dannycup onto his horse with admittedly some difficulty.  Fending off the smaller male’s flailing fists, he quickly leaned over to Pamela.  “Capture him and throw him in the Pit of Despair.  Do whatever you want, as long as it hurts.”

“NO!” screamed Danny, reaching for his love, who was now completely surrounded and outnumbered!  “You can’t do this!  Vlad!  VLAD!”

“Hush, princess, you’re safe now!”  Dinkerdash proclaimed proudly, holding Dannycup’s slighter form firmly against his front.  “We’re going to go back to the palace now where you can finally get some rest and food and a greatly needed bath!  Don’t worry, my love, we will have you sorted out soon!”

“Dash, stop, please!  I don’t want to–!”

But it was too late.  Dash had already turned his horse around and was heading back for Floren Castle at a full gallop, Danny screaming in despair over his shoulder.

“VLAD!!”

Vlad slashed his blade across a man’s chest and whirled, eyes wide.  “DANNY!”

He started after the horses, but suddenly, a crossbow bolt punched into his back.  The older man gasped – swaying – vision growing fuzzy around the edges as he fought to stay awake.  //No…!//

A sword hilt smacked soundly into his temple.  WHACK!

Vlad collapsed into the leaves.

Above him, Pamela giggled.  “Heehee!  Oops~”

 

~*~

 

Back at the castle, Danny had all but been thrown into his rooms once more, leaving him to pound and cry at his door for hours.  But no one answered him.  After a long while, he had no more strength left and his voice was gone from screaming.  He went into his connecting bathing chambers and took a long bath, cold.  He bathed and changed into one of the simpler, less ridiculous dresses, and sat on his bed.  

It was hours later that he was brought food.  He was surprised to find the prince himself doing such a task.  He was too tired to fight as Dash came in and set the food down on his bedside table.

“Eat and rest, my dear, you have had a long and trying few days,” the prince smiled.  “You must get your strength back for the wedding!”

“He’ll come for me…” Danny whispered, voice hushed.  “He will…”

Dinkerdash smirked, before changing into a softer smile as he turned to look back at his bride.  “For your sake, I hope you will recover from these silly ideas.  I’m sure a good night’s sleep will bring some rational thought back into that pretty little head.  Goodnight, baby doll~”

He left the princess’s chambers and locked the door behind him, turning find Pamela behind him with a large smile, making him jump.  “God, don’t DO that…  I take it you have him secure then?”

“Of course, your highness!  I will start the torture as soon as he is all healed up~”  

She glanced at the locked doors, frowning in mock concern.  “Oh dear, that horrible man must have put poor Dannycup through such horrors to make him cling to him so!  Will the princess be alright for the wedding?”

“Of course!”  Dash said with a cocky grin.  “Few days in my care and everything will be back as it was.  Now, do make sure our guest suffers PLENTY, won’t you?”

“Yes, your highness~”

Pamela bowed to the prince.  “Would his highness like to watch~?” she asked merrily.

Dinkerdash sighed forlornly.  “Pamela, you know how I love to watch you work, but I’ve got a kingdom to run, a wedding to plan, a future wife to enjoy and eventually murder, and then I have to frame Gilder for it all.  I’m swamped!”

The redhead laughed.  “Ah, you have so much energy, my prince.  I could never hope to match your stamina~”

He smiled cockily.  “Yes yes, I know~”

“Well, good luck with your deviousness, your highness.  I shall be off doing what I do best~”

Bowing one last time, Pamela turned and swaggered down the steps.  Going to her rooms, she donned a long, dark cloak and went to the stables, mounting her horse and riding for the woods.  She had a prisoner to torment.

 

~*~*~

 

The Pit of Despair was a lonely, stinking place – a dark cavern buried under a cluster of dead trees, only lit by the guttering flames of oil lamps.  But anything one could see by that light, a sane person would wish the lamps were extinguished; torture devices of all shapes and sizes… including a huge device of wood and wheels that towered above all the rest.  

It was to that device that Vladley found himself strapped to when he awoke… his bolt wound dabbed at by an eerily grinning blonde man.  He glared at the man, trying to move his bound limbs, but found he was held down to securely.

“Who are you?  Where am I?” Vlad demanded.

The smiling man looked up at him, only seeming to smile wider as he saw his ‘guest’ was awake.  “The Pit of Despair~”  he rasped, voice sounding raw and ill-used.  “Don’t even think about – cough cough HACK!”

He turned his head to clear his throat a few times before turning back to Vladley.  “Sorry about that!”

Now, his voice was light and chipper, which Vlad found far more disturbing and unpleasant than the raspy voice from before.  “Don’t even think about trying to escape!  These chains are FAR too thick, I designed them myself!  And don’t even bother dreaming about being rescued~  Only the Prince, the Countess – that’s my LOVELY wife – and myself even know about this place!”

Vlad hissed at the sting of the liquid the man was dabbing on his wound.  “Who are you?” he demanded weakly.  His throat was parched.  “Is that poison?”

The man laughed in that cheery, creepy way of his.  “Oh no, not at all!  I’m healing you, silly~!  My name is Jeremy, pleasure to meet you, I’m sure~”

“Right…  so, what, I’m here until I die?”

“Until we kill you, yes~!”

Vladley raised a brow.  “Then why even bother healing me?”

“Oh, my wife INSISTS that all of our victims should be perfectly healthy before they’re tortured!”  Jeremy enthused, making Vlad even more unnerved.  

“So… I’m to be tortured?”

Jeremy nodded enthusiastically, dabbing at the man’s wounds with new vigor.  Vlad huffed, straightening his shoulders confidently.  “I can take a little torture.”

Jeremy just shook his head, still smiling.  “Oh you may have survived the Haunted Woods, so you must be a very brave young man~!” he said.  “But NO ONE withstands ‘The Machine.’”

Vlad watched as the man walked away, letting his face portray nothing but arrogance… but inside, he felt doubt creep its dark tendrils over his heart.

//Oh, Dannycup… please wait for me…!//

 

~*~*~

 

Days passed with young Dannycup locked away in his rooms.  He did not eat, and he did not sleep, and he slowly began to waste away.  He was thinner than ever before and that spark of life and pride within him was gone.  Hours seemed to pass so quickly, every time he blinked something else seemed to change around him, until suddenly…

He was married.

The world rushed in on him, his eyes widening as he heard his name called, as he was dragged out by strong hands to face a crowd below him, all the people bowing to him as QUEEN.  He began to shake and tremble, his face sickly pale.

Large arms encased in rich finery tightened around his slim waist, the boy himself finally realising he was dressed in white silks.  A wedding dress…

“You’re mine now!” Dinkerdash grinned.

“NO!!”

Danny sat up in his bed, flailing wildly as he awoke from the nightmare that had ensnared him so.  He panted harshly for breath, skin pale and clammy as he shakily climbed down from the bed and pulled on a warmer robe, trying his hardest to stop his full body shivers.

He quickly moved to the locked door and began to pound on it, not caring that it was so late at night.  “Please!  I need to speak with the prince!  You can’t just keep me locked away in here!  You can’t!  Let me go!  LET ME GO!”

Silence.  No one was listening.  No one was there to save him.

Tears gathered in his eyes and finally spilled down his cheeks as he slipped down the side of the door, sitting heavily upon the cold, stone floor.  

//My sweet Vladley… where are you?//

 

~*~

 

Meanwhile, in another part of the palace, Dash cleaned his knife, boots propped up on his desk as his captain of the guard – Kwan – bustled in.  He was a relatively tall young man, but with a soft disposition, short black hair, and didn’t really know how to use his two-handed sword, which mostly hung on his hip just for show.  The only reason he was captain of the guard is that his and the prince’s families had known each other for a lifetime.  “You wanted to see me, your majesty?” he asked.

The prince nodded and took his boots down.  “Yes, come in!”

Kwan obeyed, closing the door behind him.  Dash stood up, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder.  “Kwan, you are one of my most trusted friends, you know that, right?” he smiled.

“Um, thanks!” Kwan said brightly.

“That’s why when I’m king, you can’t keep screwing up like you have the past few years~!”

The young man blinked, then seemed to wilt.  “Wait, what?”

Dash scoffed and rolled his eyes.  “Oh, come on, the banquet from last year?  That one noble wedding?  Crashers got into both of them!  Look, you’re a sweet guy, but sweet doesn’t make people fear you!”

Kwan pouted.  “Yeah, I guess.”

“So, for MY wedding, there will be no crashers tolerated!” Dash ordered, keeping a slightly forced smile on his face.  “Especially NO people in masks and in black.”

“Wait, why are you saying that so specifically–”

“No reason at all, jerk!” the blonde snapped.  “He’s supposed to be dead but at this point I’m not taking any chances!!”

He huffed and plunked back into his chair, resuming cleaning his knife.  “In fact, clean out the Thief’s Forest!  And double the guard on the front gate!”

“B-But your majesty, the Thief’s Forest is HUGE!  And your wedding is in a week!”

“FORM A BRUTE SQUAD, THEN!”

Kwan shrunk back, eyes wide.  Dash glared harshly at his so-called friend.  “I won’t tolerate YOU messing this up for me!  If Gilder ever picked a fight with Floren, I’d just have to get myself a new captain of the guard!”

“Don’t say that…”

“Then GO!”

Kwan bowed hurriedly and rushed from the room, shoulders bowed.  

Dash huffed and leaned back, scratching a speck from his blade.  He loved that guy, but like he had said – being sweet didn’t make people fear you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More f-boy Dash and creepy Pamela... what a pair I love to hate...


	5. Chapter Five

Over the next few days leading up to the big wedding, the Thief’s Forest was swarming with guards.  They cleared out the forest a day at a time, driving away those that lived there, along with arresting those they could.  The jail cells were soon overflowing, and Kwan had a hard time keeping up with the prince’s demands.

It didn’t help that one former member of the brute squad, and his sword fighting wife, were giving them a LOT of trouble…

Maddie disarmed another guard that ran at her, tripping him up and making him land hard on his bottom.  She laughed loudly as she had been fighting a handful of guards now, and had yet to break a sweat.  “I will ask, ONE MORE TIME~!”

The guard yelped as the tip of her sword stopped short of his throat.  “Where, is the man in black~?” she cooed.

“I-I don’t know who y-y-you’re talking about!”

Maddie sighed, swatting at him and letting him run off like the coward he was.  “This is USELESS, Jack!  You say that the wedding is at the end of the week, but SURELY the man in black would show up to stop it!  So where is he??”

She spun in a circle, cut the belt off of another guard’s trousers – making him drop his sword so as to not drop his pants – kicked him away, and faced her husband, who had three other guards in a headlock.  “I want my revenge!  But I NEED him to do that!”

“Because he out-fought us and out-thought Jasmine, yes, but how are we supposed to find him?!  And why are you asking ME?” Jack yelped.

“I don’t know, but I want–!”

Suddenly, a dark feeling crept over Maddie, raising the hairs on her neck…

And in the distance, a low, echoing scream sounded over the land.  It was horrible, and piercing, even though it was far away.  It was a sound of ultimate suffering…

“Jack…”  the French woman breathed, her brows furrowed and her expression one of frightened concern.  “Was that…”

“Yeah.”  

Jack knocked the two remaining guards head’s together, and then walked over to her, facing the same direction as she was.  “I think that was him.  But it’s like he’s being–”

“Tortured.  Prince Dinkerdash must have done something!  Come on, we gotta find him!”

“Whoa, hey, wait a minute!” Jack cried as he raced after her through the woods.  “Wait for me!”

Maddie followed the scream until it died out, and continued running even further, in the direction it had come from – until she found herself in the deepest parts of the woods, just behind the palace courtyards.  She growled, whirling around in agitation.  “I could have sworn it was coming from here!”

Just then, as she rounded a large tree, Maddie spotted a skinny blonde man turning to head to the palace, whistling to himself in a creepy, happy tune.  

In the blink of an eye she was upon him, pinning him to the side of the tree trunk.  

“Well, HELLO there~”  she chirped with a grin.  “Perhaps YOU can answer my question, hmm~?”

Jeremy stiffed, staring at the intruders with wide eyes.  “Ahhhhh… I’m sure you’re not supposed to be here!” he replied, trying to sound stern but coming off more nervous than anything.

“Oh, that must mean we’re in the right place, honey!”  Maddie crowed, glancing up as her large husband came to tower over the other man she was holding down.  “So tell me, kind sir, where is the man in black~?”

Jeremy swallowed at the looming shadow of the huge, muscled man.  “I…”

Maddie scowled.  “Jack?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Check his memory.”

Jack blinked, then shrugged, raised his fist, and brought it down on Jeremy’s head.  BONK!  The blonde man stared up at him vacantly…

Then, swayed, and hit the forest floor with an unceremonious plop, out cold.

Maddie stared down at the fallen man for a moment, before looking up at Jack with a raised brow.  He shrugged sheepishly.  “Sorry, I guess I checked too hard…”

The swordswoman sighed, rubbing a finger between her brows as she turned to lean heavily against the large tree.  She looked tired and VERY annoyed.  “NOW what do we do?”

CLICK.

Maddie pulled back from the tree, only for her eyes to widen as what appeared to be a hole opened up in the knotted trunk.  She shared a look with her husband, then slowly crept inside.  Down and down they climbed, cold stone walls appearing all around them as torches rose up on the walls, greeting them in the darkness with foreboding, flickering flames.  Chains hung from the walls, along with all other manner of weapons and tools designed to torture and maim.

And in the center of the room, lain prone on a wooden table with skin as pale as death, was the man in black…

Maddie froze, her heart plummeted into her gut.  “Jack, JACK!” she barked.

They rushed to his side, prying the suction cups and needles out of his skin, leaving dark, red-black bruises behind.  His skin felt cold as Jack pressed his ear to his bare chest…

And heard nothing.

“…He’s dead…”

Maddie sagged against the table, jaw slack and trepidation filling her eyes.  “He was my one chance…”  she breathed, feeling a little sorry for herself as her plans for revenge were dashed.  But then her eyes widened in horror and she turned to look back up at her husband.  “Oh Jack, Dannycup!  That poor boy!  What’s going to happen to him now?!”

Jack’s expression hardened.  “We have to try and do SOMETHING, Maddie…”

The two were lost in thought for a moment as Maddie cleaned the man on the table, straightening his clothes and finding his sword nearby.  She gazed down at the man’s dead, pale face in contemplation.  “He’s older than I thought he would be…  He’s not what I expected at all…”

“Maddie!”  Jack suddenly proclaimed, eyes widening.  “There might still be a chance to revive him!”

“What, how?!”

“The witch!”  Jack exclaimed excitedly, scooping up the man’s limp body and moving quickly for the stairs.  “If ANYONE can raise the dead, it’s HER!”

 

~*~*~

 

“Are you excited, princess~?”  crooned the countess, Pamela, as she watched the maids dutifully dress Danny up in a splendid white gown.  “Just think, tonight you will be married!”

Danny gave her no reply, blue eyes cast down at his clasped hands.  His fingers ran over the string tied around his ring finger, giving him some semblance of peace.

//I’m already married…//

Pamela raised a brow at his unusual quietness, but figured the boy was finally succumbing to his fate.  The woman glanced at the maids.  “Make sure he eats and keep him here till the prince calls for him.  It’s for his own safety of course.  We won’t have to worry about that once the marriage is… consummated~”

Danny watched them of the corner of his eye as she left, just when one of the maids placed a tray of food before him.  He looked down at it blankly, then raised a shaky hand for the fork, only to knock it off the table.  The maid beside him startled, turning away to fetch it, giving him just enough time to swipe the knife from the tray, and hide it inside his billowing sleeves.  

//We’ll see how the prince consummates this marriage after I cut off the key player…//

 

~*~*~

 

The sun was growing heavy towards the western sky, filtering down through the trees as Jack and Maddie hauled Vlad’s limp body to a tiny hut deep in the forest.  Maddie knocked on the door.  “We’re here to see the witch!” she announced.

There was no answer.

The woman huffed and knocked harder.  “I know you’re in there, OPEN UP!”

There was a muffled groan from behind the heavy door.  Jack and Maddie glanced at one another, then there was a quick grind of wood on wood as a slat opened in the door.  Glaring purple eyes shone out.  “Whaddya want?!” spat a female voice on the other side.

“A miracle!” Jack announced, stepping forward and striking a heroic pose.  

“HA!”  the woman cackled, shaking her head.  “The prince FIRED me as the court magician, go somewhere else.  I ain’t gonna tarnish my reputation further with another botched up spell!”

“Please!” Maddie cried, pushing against the door further.  “It’s not like you can cause too much damage, he’s already dead!”

Purple eyes narrowed.  “Dead?  What did you bring a dead man here for?”

“We want you to bring him back to life.”

“Hmmm… I’ll take a look.  Bring him in.”

The slat closed and the door opened; Jack lumbered inside, Maddie following a few steps behind.  The ex-miracle woman of the court stood slouched grouchily behind the door, an old crone draped in dusty black robes with dark, grey-streaked hair and nonsensical amethyst eyes lined with kohl.  There were rumors about this woman, named Samantha, but anyone who had dared to call her such had had strange and gruesome things happen to them.

Sam walked over to Vlad, who Jack quickly set down on the table.  “…Huh.”

She poked at his face a few times, listened to his chest, picked up his hand and let it drop.  “Well, I’ve seen worse.”

Maddie perked up, hopeful.  “So you can do it?”

“I didn’t say THAT,” she snapped in her scratchy voice, moving around the still form.  “And I’m certainly not doing it for free.  What can you pay me?”

“Well, together we’ve got… sixty five?”

“Sixty five?!  To raise the dead?!  HA!”  

The witch shook her head.  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kick you all out of here?”

“It’s for a good cause!”  Jack protested.  

Maddie jumped in as well, looking desperate.  “It’s for honor and revenge!  Surely you can understand that?”

Sam narrowed her eyes.  “That’s what YOU want.  What does HE want?” she asked waspishly, pointing at the dead man on her table.  “What does HE have worth living for?  Worth coming back from the dead for?”

Maddie and Jack shared a look, their expressions grave.  Jack turned back to the witch.  “True love.”

“Pff!”

The old woman snorted in disbelief, turning away from the couple.  “True love!  There’s no such thing!” she exclaimed.  She leaned down, knees popping, to grab a pair of fireplace bellows.  “I bet he owes ya money, huh?  Eh, I’ll know soon enough.  We’ll just ask him!”

Jack’s brows furrowed.  “But um… he’s dead?”

“Your friend here is MOSTLY dead,” Sam grunted, sticking the bellows between Vlad’s lips and pumping air into his chest.  “There’s a difference between mostly dead and ALL dead.”

She huffed and took the instrument out of the man’s mouth, then leaned down by his ear.  “Hey!  Hello in there!  What’s so important?!” she asked loudly.  “Whatcha got out here that’s worth living for?!”

Sam raised her brows at the couple, planted her palms on Vlad’s chest, and pushed down.

“Trueeeeeeeeeelooovvvvveeeeee…” came a wheezing reply.

Maddie sat up straight, grinning.  “See?  True love!  You can’t ask for a better reason to live!”

Sam looked troubled, backing away as she laughed it off.  “Ah, yes, of course, but you see, that’s not what he said!”

Jack blinked, confused.  “It’s not?”

“No, no, you see, he said ‘to blave!’  Which, of course, as everyone knows, means ‘to bluff!’”

Maddies eyes narrowed dangerously at the blabbering woman, slowly reaching for her sword as she continued to talk.  “Yeah, yeah, so you were all probably playing cards, and he cheated–!” the witch babbled.

“LIAR!”

A bald, dark skinned old man came hobbling in from the back of the house, pointing an accusing finger at the witch.  “Liar, liar, LIAAAAAAR!”

“Get back, you WITCH!”

“I’m not the witch, YOU’RE the witch!”  the old man snapped, practically chasing her around the table.  “I’m your HUSBAND and after what you just said, I’m not sure I want to be THAT anymore!”

Sam just scoffed, ducking away from him.  “HA!  You never had it so good, Tucker, so stop your belly aching!”

“True love, Sam!  You heard him!  He said true love!”

“Not another WORD, Tucker!”

The old man named Tucker turned to look apologetically at the other couple.  “I’m so sorry, you guys!  Ever since Prince Dinkerdash fired my wife, her confidence has been in shambles!”

“YOU PROMISED NEVER TO MENTION THAT NAME AGAIN!” Sam shrieked.

“Whaaaat, DINKERDASH?”

“GAH!”

“DINKERDASH!  DINKERDASH!” Tucker yelped, chanting it mockingly at his wife as he chased her around the room.  “Woooooo~!  Dinkerdash Dinkerdash Dinkerdash~!”

“Wait!”  Maddie cried, eyes alight with a plan.  “This man’s true love is Princess Dannycup!  Dannycup is actually a young BOY that the prince is holding and marrying against his will!  If you revive this man, he will stop the wedding!”

Sam and Tucker froze, turning to look at the woman with wide eyes.  “HE’S Dannycup’s true love?  He’ll stop the wedding?”  Sam came closer, grinning widely.  “RUIN the prince~?”

“Humiliations galore before he likely KILLS the man.”

“PERFECT!”  Sam crowed, turning around to grab a huge spell book off the shelf.  She blew the dust away from it, cracking it open with her husband’s help.  “Gimme the sixty five, I’m on the job!”

“Woo!”  Tucker hollered, smiling widely.  “Raising a man from the dead, reminds me of our honeymoon~”

Sam chuckled.  “Yes, but this is going to be very delicate and complicated work.  We LITERALLY need to find the man’s spirit, and anchor it back into his body.  Let’s just hope he’s still nearby or has something of great emotional value on his person to help draw him back…”

“I’m sure there is!” Jack enthused.  “Dannycup’s still out there!  He has to be around!”

 

~*~

 

Meanwhile, in the twilight of the Netherworld, a pale, naked soul lingered somewhere between Death and Life.  Vlad stirred quietly in what felt like dark water… soft, ethereal howls echoing at the edge of his senses, like the motes of impurity in a lake at sunset.  Dappled ripples of light flowed through him, confused and tired.

He had long lost track of time, and his mind felt just as dark as this odd state of limbo.  Where… Where was he…?

Vlad fought to open his eyes, to feel something.  He couldn’t be dead… could he?

No…

“VLADLEY!”

Vlad suddenly straightened.  He knew that voice!  Danny’s soul… it was crying out for him…

The man struggled against the icy pull of the water and looked up – where the light and sound was coming from.  Life.

He had to get BACK!

 

~*~

 

Back inside the witch’s hut, the candles they had lain around the man’s still body suddenly surged with fuchsia flames, rising so high they nearly hit the ceiling.  Everyone except for Sam cried out in alarm and moved back.  She just raised an amused eyebrow.  “Ooooh, this ones a fighter~!”

Maddie swallowed thickly, glancing at the old woman.  “Is that a… a good thing?”

“A very good thing,” she replied, raising her hands high.  “I SENSE YOU, SPIRIT.  YOU DO NOT WISH TO PASS ON YET.  YOUR BODY IS HERE.  PASS THROUGH MY NET, AND I WILL TETHER YOU BACK TO THIS WORLD.”

An ungodly howl rang through the hut, a dark wind swirling around them.  Sam’s eyes narrowed as she struggled to keep the rift open.  “PASS THROUGH, RETURN.  ONLY THEN WILL YOU LIVE AGAIN.”

The howls raised in volume.  

“ONLY THEN WILL YOU SEE YOUR TRUE LOVE AGAIN!”

 

~*~

 

Vlad swam toward the surface, teeth grit with determination.  He was almost there!

Then, suddenly, chains lashed out from the deep, wrapping around his legs and arms and yanking him back down towards the darkness. The man choked as it dragged him down a few precious feet, then snarled and yanked back.  He wasn’t about to let this stop him!  Danny was in Life!

A rippling purple net splashed down from the light, wrapping around his body and pulling him upwards.  Yes, yes!

Vlad strained, hard, one last time–!!

And the chains broke.

SNAP!

 

~*~

 

The candles suddenly blew out and the room was plunged into darkness.  Sam fell back away from the circle of candles, caught by her husband as she panted for breath.  He looked down at her in worry, but she waved it away.  “Raising the dead can take a lot out of ya…” she wheezed.

“But, is he really–?”

Before Jack could finish his question, the candles suddenly relit themselves just as what used to be a dead body sat up with a loud gasp.  He was panting wildly, body shaking like mad!  But most unnerving of all…

His eyes were glowing, the color of blood…

Vlad blinked, then stared at Maddie and Jack.  The couple flinched back, eyes wide.  “Who are you?!” he snapped, whipping around to look at the witch pair.  “What’s happening?!  Where am I?  WHERE’S DANNYCUP?!”

“Whoa whoa, EASY!”  Tucker exclaimed, holding out a hand in order to hopefully calm the man back down.  “Listen, you’ve been dead for nearly ten hours.  We JUST brought you back from the Netherworld.  You need to calm down and take it easy!  Otherwise you might just seize up.”

Maddie moved forward slightly, eager.  “Do you remember us?” she asked.  Vlad glanced at her, looking confused.  “You beat me in a sword fight and then brought me back to my husband.  We found you in the prince’s torture chambers and brought you here!”

“Yeah!”  Jack agreed, smiling at the man in black.  “It’s a good thing too, because the wedding is tonight!”

“WHAT?!”

Sam groaned, shaking her head.  “What part of ‘keep him calm’ do you NOT understand?”

Vlad snarled, and once again his eyes flashed scarlet.  “Dinkerdash is marrying MY Dannycup tonight?!” he growled, his chest rumbling in fury as he got down off the table.  “Over my twice-dead BODY!”

Maddie and Jack hurried out the door after Vlad.  “W-Wait, you don’t know the whole story yet!”

Sam and Tucker wrapped their arms around each other, waving as they watched the little party set off.  “Bye bye!” she chirped.  “Have fun storming the castle!  And be careful about those new undead tendencies!”

“Think they can do it?” Tucker asked her.

“It would take a miracle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOVED Sam and Tucker in this, they were my favorite part!


	6. Chapter Six

The sun was just beginning to set as Danny was lead out of his chambers and towards the palace cathedral.  The knife he had swiped earlier was discreetly hidden in the corset of his wedding gown, and he took some comfort in knowing he had some means of self defence.  His full gown swept across the floor, layers of white silk billowing out around him.  With the intricate little crown perched on his head, he really did look like a fairy tale bride.

Save for the fact that he looked far from overjoyed about this wedding…

For the first time that day a spark of life and anger appeared in his eyes as he was finally brought to the altar before the prince and the priest.  He sneered at Dinkerdash as he took his arm, staring straight ahead to avoid the man’s smug expression.

The organ reached its crescendo… and faded to echoing silence.

“…Mawwage!”

The priest – with magnificent fluffy, cloudlike sideburns – raised his voice over the chapel.  “Mawwage is what brings us togethah, today.”

 

~*~

 

Outside, Vlad, Jack, and Maddie ducked against the wall, out of the flickering light of the torches; the silver-haired man risked a peek, muttered the name of a dessert pastry, and then ducked back behind the corner.  “Why did you neglect to inform me this gate is guarded by over thirty men?!” he whispered hotly.

“I heard they doubled the guards for the wedding, but I didn’t think it would be THIS bad!” Maddie retorted, peeking out to look at the small troop of guards.”  She grinned viciously, her caution and focus skewed due to how close she was to finally getting her revenge.

“Come on, we can take them!”

Jack gave Vlad an apologetic look for his wife.  “Dear, the man JUST returned from the dead.  I don’t think he’s up to fighting thirty men, even WITH backup…”

Vlad huffed, rubbing his chin.  “Hmmm… well, what are our assets?”

“Your brains, Maddie’s steel, and my strength!”

“That’s insane,” the man immediately replied.  “If I had a month or two to plan MAYBE I could come up with something, but THIS?  Now, if we had a wheelbarrow and a Holocaust cloak, now that would be useful…”

“There’s a wheelbarrow just over there,”  Maddie pointed out.

“And I have this!”  

Maddie and Vlad stared at Jack as he fished out a huge black cloak from inside his shirt, shaking it out to show it off.  Maddie blinked.  “Where did you get THAT?”

“At the witch’s hut!” he said proudly.  “It fit me so nice, her husband said I could keep it!”

“When did that even happen?  I was there the whole time and that NEVER happened!”

Vlad waved her down.  “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, my dear,” he muttered.  “Jack, get that cloak on.  Maddie, a torch.”

 

~*~

 

“You look good, dollface~”

Danny grimaced, glancing at Dash from the corner of his eye as the man looked at him hungrily.  His eyes narrowed, fists clenching tight as the priest before them droned on and on. “You’ll never win!” he whispered harshly.  “You’ll NEVER touch me.  My Vladley will come, and he will save me and he will KILL you…”

“Still thinking like that, I see…” Dinkerdash sighed, patting Danny’s hand.  “No worries.  You’ll get over him.  It’s not like you have a choice.”

The boy frowned, eyes darting between Dash and the smirking countess standing to the far right as a witness.  “What do you mean by that?” he hissed.

The prince smiled brightly and opened his mouth to answer – when suddenly, a deep voice bellowed from the outside.

“I AM THE DREAD PIRATE PLASMIUS!”

Danny brightened, then blinked, taken aback.  That wasn’t Vlad’s voice!

 

~*~

 

Outside, the guards in front of the gate shifted uneasily, weapons drawn at the sight of the enormous, dark figure that wobbled towards the gate.  

“There will be no survivors!” Jack declared in his spookiest voice, raising his arms.  Dressed in the Holocaust cloak and perched atop the wheelbarrow being pushed by Vlad and his wife, the eight-foot-tall giant now towered almost twelve feet tall over the insignificant men attempting to stand their ground.

“Now?” Maddie grunted, struggling to hold a torch and one handle of the wheelbarrow at the same time.

“Not yet,” Vlad muttered.

Jack was clearly enjoying himself with all the terror he was causing.  “Many are here, I am here!!  But soon, YOU will not be here!”

“NOW?”

“Light him.”

Maddie quickly halted the roll of the wheelbarrow and lit the bottom of the cloak.  The dark fabric quickly lit up, flames dancing along Jack’s covered body and arms.  He raised them wide, the men beginning to shake in terror and some already starting to back away.  “The Dread Pirate Plasmius takes no survivors!”  Jack bellowed, pointing towards the cowering men.  “All your worst nightmares are about to come true!”

 

~*~

 

Danny craned his neck to try to see what was happening out there, watching in amusement as more and more guards left the chapel to check things out.  He was jostled slightly by Dash’s rough hand as the prince forced him to face forward again.  But Danny could see how wide his eyes were becoming…

“And wove, twue wove, wiww fowwow you fowevah–”

 

~*~

 

Jack raised his arms high, forcing himself to keep from laughing outright as many of the guards began to flee.  “The Dread Pirate Plasmius, is here for your souls!”

 

~*~

 

“So tweasure your wove–”

“Skip to the end!” Dinkerdash hissed through his teeth.

The priest looked at him in confusion, but obeyed.  “Do you, Pwincess Dannycup–?”

“Man and WIFE!  Say MAN AND WIFE!”

“Man and wife…”

Dash hurriedly forced the ring onto Danny’s finger, handed the young man to his father, and shed his furred cloak.  “Escort the BRIDE to the honeymoon suite?” he muttered crossly, gesturing Pamela to follow him as he walked from the chapel.  “I’ll be there shortly.”

 

~*~

 

“Jack, the portcullis!” Maddie yelled.

All of the men but one very petrified young captain of the guard had fled, leaving Jack to pull off his burning mantle and grab the closing portcullis.  With a mighty heave, he forced it open; Vlad strode over to the last remaining guard, while Maddie patted her husband on the shoulder.  “Good job, hon~!” she said.  She dug in her pouch and handed him something.  “Here’s a cookie.”

Vlad slammed his fist into the gate beside Kwan’s head.  “Where’s the gate key?” he snapped.

The young man looked like he was about to pee himself.  “I-I don’t have any gate key!  What’s a gate key?!”

Maddie smiled sweetly.  “Jack, dear, tear his arms off.”

“OH, you mean this gate key!” the young man quickly responded, holding up a large key that hung around his neck on a chain.  “Take it!  Dash is a jerk, anyway!!”

Vlad grabbed it, ripped it off from around his neck, and shoved the guard captain away; Kwan fled with no intention to ever return to guard duty again.  Maddie and Jack followed close behind as the silver-haired pirate stormed inside the castle, sword drawn and face set.  Just as they rounded a corner, a small troop of guards came rushing forward, lead by a preppy redheaded countess.  

Pamela’s hand rested on her sheathed sword, smile wide as she looked over the three men.  “Kill the dark one and the giant, but leave the woman for questioning~” she purred.

The guards followed her command, sprinting forward, only to fall one by one to the end of Maddie’s blade.  The countess’s eyes widened slightly as Maddie slowly dropped into a dueling crouch, eyes locked on the other woman’s fingers.

Her SIX fingers…

“Hello,”  Maddie breathed.  “My name is Madeline Bellarose.  You killed my sister, prepare to die…”

Pamela slowly narrowed her eyes.

She drew her sword with aplomb, the blade flashing in the dim light of the corridor, and sunk into a crouch much like Maddie’s own.  Her green eyes glittered coldly…

Then, she turned around and ran the other way down the hall.

Maddie’s jaw actually dropped, looking affronted, before booking it after her.  She was right on the woman’s heel as she turned the corner, only to run right into a closed, locked door.

“NO!”

She slammed all of her weight against it, banging on the door in outrage.  “JACK!! Jack, I need you!  She’s getting away from me, Jack!  PLEASE!”

Jack gave Vlad a hesitant glance, but the man waved him away, “I will find Dannycup!” Vlad told him, already turning towards the stairs.  “Go help your wife!”

Jack nodded and ran down the hall.  

He stopped Maddie from throwing herself at the door again, turned, and PUNCHED the large piece of oak right off its hinges.  Maddie smiled, nodding to him breathlessly.  “Thank you!”

He watched her dash through the open door, then turned back to Vlad – only to find him gone as well.  

He scratched his big head.  “Hmm… what now…?”

 

~*~

 

Maddie ran down staircase after staircase, the halls around her blurring together as she chased after that blasted countess, so close she could almost grab her hair!  She turned a sharp corner, sword raised–!

Only to gasp in shock as a dagger was hurled through the air, piercing into her belly.  Maddie felt the end of a sword run right through her right shoulder, sending her skittering back into the wall.  She cried out as it happened again to her left shoulder; she staggered and hit the side of a table.  She blinked up at the grinning face of Countess Pamela, sight blurring for just a moment.

“I’m sorry sister, I tried… I tried…”

Pamela giggled and approached the dying woman.  “Goodness gracious!” she exclaimed, feigning concern through her teeth.  “Are you all right~?  You can’t be that little French brat I taught a lesson to all those years ago~”

She ran her fingertips over her sword.  “Oh well,” she purred, grinning at Maddie.  “Survival of the fittest, I suppose.”

The redhead gripped her sword and lunged–!

Even as injured and slumped over as she was, Maddie parried the blow.  

Her head sagged to the side, a glint of something deadly beginning to appear in her eyes, smirking slightly.  

Pamela stumbled and scowled.  “Good heavens, are you STILL trying to win?”  the countess snapped.  “You have an overdeveloped sense of vengeance.  It’s going to get you into trouble someday!”

She lunged again, but this time Maddie threw her back completely with a clash of steel as she straightened, taking a step forward.  “Hello…”  she whispered.  “My name is Madeline Bellarose.  You killed my sister.  Prepare to die…”

 

~*~

 

Dannycup stumbled as he was tossed into a new set of chambers, larger and grander than what he had even become begrudgingly used to; he whipped around, hand flying for the door, only to find it locked.  He growled, whirling around quickly, looking for another means to escape.  He ran for the window, but he could only look out in despair as he was at least twenty feet high, towering far above the ground.

“Oh gods… I’ve got to get out of here.  I’ve got to find Vladley!”

But there WAS no way out, and after a few torturous minutes, Danny simply resorted to yanking the little crown off his head and tearing at his own dress.  He ripped away the outer sheer layers, the sleeves, the jewel inlaid corset.  He hacked at it all with his stolen knife, letting out all his anger and frustration and sadness at the situation, until all that was left was the simple underdress, torn and missing a sleeve.  He stabbed the knife into the door, and in one last move of defiance, he tore off the prince’s ring, and threw it against the wall.

“I never gave my vow to you, you VILE man.  I gave it to HIM!”  Dannycup seethed, swaying slightly from his near hysterical movements.  “Only Vladley will have my heart!”

There was a gentle knock at the window.

“GO AWAY!!” Danny yelled.

He was too furious, too disoriented to realize it was probably only a bird.  A moment of silence passed… long enough for the young man to think that his intruder had actually departed.

But then, a familiar voice reached his ears.

“My dear, this isn’t as easy as it looks.  Do let me in.”

Danny gasped and whirled, to see none other than Vlad himself perched outside his window – moonlight gleaming off his gentle smile as he tapped on the latticed glass.  “Vladley!”

 

~*~

 

Maddie groaned and swayed back towards the table again, desperately trying to shake off her pain.  The countess took the chance to swipe at her, but again she was blocked as Maddie moved forward, face set.  

“Hello.  My name is Madeline Bellarose.  You killed my sister.  Prepare to die.”

“Stop SAYING THAT!” Pamela snapped, and came at her hard and fast.  

Maddie’s blade clashed loudly against hers, blending into a blur of steel as she advanced on the older woman.  “HELLO!  My name is Madeline Bellarose!!  YOU KILLED MY SISTER!  PREPARE TO DIE!”

Pamela gasped as her sword was deflected from her grip, then yelped as the tip of a blade slashed her cheek.  “You–!!”

“Offer me money,” Maddie growled.

A glint of fear shone in the older woman’s eyes.  “FINE!  You can have MONEY!  Just–”

Another slice appeared on her other cheek, making her gasp.  “Power!  Promise me that!”

“All that I have and more!”  Pamela barked, leaning further away.  “Just please–!”

“Offer me anything I ask for!”  Maddie sneered, pulling her sword away like she was going to let Pamela go, like she was seriously considering such bribes.  

“Anything you want!”  Pamela cried, fear taking over her rational thought.  She shuddered, as Maddie’s expression hardened, turning to stone.  

“I want my sister back, you BITCH!”

SHNK!

Pamela’s face froze in horror, contorted in a silent scream as the French swordswoman’s blade sunk into her belly and TWISTED.  A single gasp of shock and pain spilled past her bloodied lips as Maddie viciously withdrew her sword, and watched in satisfaction as the light slowly drained from the countess’s eyes.  With a soft thump, the dead woman slid to the floor, a pool of crimson slowly swelling around her.  Maddie stared down at her for a moment, hand clutching the hilt of her sword tightly…

Before she sighed, sheathed the blade, and slowly limped away, never once looking back.

 

~*~

 

Danny dashed forward and quickly unlocked and opened the windows, shaking hands trying to help pull Vlad inside.  He clung to him desperately, eyes roving over his face as he took in the sight of him, proved to himself his lover was there and alive.  “I feared the worst…!”  Danny whispered, small hands cupping the older man’s face.  “But you’re here.  You’re ALIVE!”

Vlad smirked, eyes shining with a glimmer of red.  “Well, that’s debatable~” he murmured in good humor, pulling Danny close.  

The younger man gasped, pulling back to stare up at his older lover in wonder.  “Vlad, your EYES…”  he breathed in awe, a hand coming up to gently touch one cheekbone as he gazed into his glittering red eyes.  “How did this happen?”

“It’s a long story, my love.  I will tell you later.”

Vlad kissed the boy gently, drew his sword, and glared over Danny’s shoulder.  “But there’s one more thing we have to lay to rest first…” he growled.

Danny turned to see what Vlad was talking about, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of in enraged prince Dinkerdash standing in the doorway, sword drawn.  

Dannycup pressed closer to Vlad, holding on to him tightly as he stared the other man down.  “Let us go, Dash.  It’s over.”

“No, it is NOT over!!” the blonde snapped.  He advanced on Vlad.  “To the DEATH!”

“NO!”

Danny blinked up at his lover – and saw his eyes had bled a solid, glowing crimson.  Goosebumps raised on his skin at the deep, ethereal sound of his voice.  “To the PAIN…” Vlad whispered.  “In case you’re not familiar with the phrase, I’ll use small words so you can understand, you warthog-faced BUFFOON.  To the pain means the first thing you will lose will be your feet below the ankles… Then, your hands at the wrists.  Next… your nose.  The next thing you will lose will be your left eye, followed by your right. Your ears you keep, and I’ll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out ‘Dear God, what is that thing?’ will echo in your perfect ears.”

As Vlad spoke, Dash grew paler and paler.  

“That is what ‘to the pain’ means,” the older man whispered, in a voice colder than death.  “It means I leave you in anguish.  Wallowing in freakish misery forever.”

Dinkerdash swallowed.

Slowly, he backed up a step… and then dropped his sword and fled down the hall, hands raised above his head and a girlish shriek following him all the way. “AHHHHHAHAHAAAAAAAH!!”

Danny blinked after him owlishly, before turning to look up at his older lover.  He couldn’t help but swallow a little, trembling as those solid red eyes slowly turned to look down at him.  However, unlike Dash, Danny didn’t feel afraid.  Sure, the sight was a little unnerving, but the way they looked at him, full of love and adoration…

It made him feel SAFE.  And the power that no man should have that his own lover suddenly seemed to possess… it was mind boggling…

He flushed, swallowing again as he attempted to find his voice.  “W-wow…”

“Vladley!  Dannycup!”

The couple turned to see Maddie – bleeding and breathless, but alive – leaning in the doorway.  “I…. phew!  I just passed the prince on the way here!” she panted, limping over to them.  She eyed Vlad’s unstained blade.  “You’re not going to…?”

“No,” Vlad replied sternly.  His eyes returned to their normal dark cobalt as he slowly resheathed his sword.  “I want him to live a long life, alone with his cowardice.”

“He deserves less,” Danny muttered.  “But I will settle for it.”  

He turned to smile widely at the older woman, coming over to help her into the room.  “Maddie, it’s great to see you again!  Where’s Jack?”

“HELLOOOO!!”

The three of them blinked in surprise, then moved towards the open window.  They leaned against the frame, eyes widening slightly at the sight of Jack standing below the window with four pretty white stallions standing with him.  He grinned at the sight of them.  “Oh hey, there you are, Maddie!  And Vlad, I see you found Dannycup!” Jack exclaimed, saluting.  “Good to see you again!”

Danny laughed, waving down at him.  “You as well, good sir!”

Vlad raised his brows at Jack’s new friends.  “What are the horses for?”

“Well, I figured we needed a getaway plan, so viola!  Four white horses!”

The silver-haired man chuckled and scooped Danny up in his arms.  “Not bad, Jack, not bad,” he complimented him.  The young man snuggled happily into his chest as he stepped up to the windowsill, then held on tight, and they leapt down into Jack’s waiting arms.

“OOF!”

“Sorry about that.”

Maddie followed right after, and together, they mounted up and rode out across the palace grounds, towards the gate and freedom.  Vlad sighed in relief and happiness – cradling the warm body of his lover in his arms – looking around at the others.

However, the swordswoman’s conflicted expression caught his eye.  Vlad’s brows furrowed.  “Maddie?  Is something wrong?”

“It’s just…”  

She paused, letting out a frustrated breath.  “Now that I have achieved my vengeance, what will I do know?  Jazz is gone, myself and Jack will surely need to flee the kingdom as much as you do… so where will we go?”

Danny and Vlad shared a look, before the older man nodded and Danny beamed, turning to face the older woman.  “Tell me, have you ever thought about becoming a pirate~?”

Jack and Maddie blinked at him in shock, turning to look at each other as the boy laughed excitedly, leaning back against Vlad’s chest.  “I hear that the Dread Pirate Plasmius is in need of a few trustworthy hands, especially with me on board now to cause all kinds of trouble~”

Vlad laughed, beaming down at his boy.  “I wouldn’t have it any other way, my little lord…”

They rode to freedom.  And as dawn arose, Vladley and Dannycup knew they were safe.  A wave of love swept over them.  Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.

**THE END.**


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dannycup and Vladley are FINALLY getting married~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated M for Mature, there is smut further ahead, you have been warned!

Dannycup was in absolute BLISS.  Any doubts Vladley may have had in regards to how his love would fare on the high seas soon faded away in light of the young man’s delight and joy.  Danny loved the ship and became fast friends with all of the crew members.  He helped out on deck and cooked most nights, singing songs with the men and learning sword fighting from Madeline.  He ran around the ship in one of Vlad’s large white blouses, looking more like a tunic on the lean young man with a large belt around his middle.  He wore a blue bandana over his dark hair and calf high boots, a knife hidden away in one and a blade on his hip.  He looked very much like a pirate captain’s bride and the crew soon nicknamed him the little sea phantom, wife of Captain Plasmius.

But he wasn’t married yet.  Sure, he had a pretty ring on his finger now, a white gold band with a large sapphire, but he and Vlad had yet to exchange proper vows.  But all that was changing today, for the ship had just docked into a beautiful tropical oasis, and Vlad was determined to finally call Danny his and his alone before the sun set over the white sands.

And once the sun DID set, he was just as determined to finally claim his lover’s body as his own as well…

Danny shivered in anticipation at the very thought.  It was finally to be his wedding day!  And not to a nasty, cowardly bully of a prince this time; to Vlad, the one who had been with him through thick and thin, who would always love and cherish him.  The one who he truly wanted to share his life with…

“Are you excited, princess~?”

The young man glanced up at Maddie, who had come to join him at the rail – gazing over the beautiful white sands.  He grinned cheekily back at her.  “As excited as any princess could be~”

His smile turned more fond, genuine, as he looked back towards his groom to be.  The man was hard at work, getting everything ready for their departure to the little tropical island port.  Vlad, or Plasmius rather, had made it very clear that morning that anyone could come to the wedding, but no one was allowed back onto the ship till well into the next night.  That got many cat calls and roars of approving laughter from the men, and had made Danny flush bright red and run away to the kitchens.  

Now, the ship swayed gently as it docked, men rushing to secure the large vessel while Vlad barked orders.  Danny blinked when their eyes locked across the deck, causing him to flush once more and duck his head shyly.  In doing so, he took in what he was wearing.  While it suited his new life as a pirate’s bride, he felt it was a bit… lacking, for his actual wedding.  

He frowned.  “What should I do about all this?  I mean, I hated that wedding gown I was forced into before, but this seems… too little?”

Maddie rubbed her chin, scrutinizing Danny’s outfit.  “Hmmm.  I suppose you’re right,” she told him.  

She smiled and took his hand.  “Come!  Once we get into port, I have an idea!”

“If this is anything like the LAST idea, I swear Maddie…”  Danny groaned, but followed her nonetheless.  “I still can’t look at a coconut without breaking into a cold sweat!”

“I swear, no coconuts are involved.  Come, come!”

 

~*~*~

 

An hour later, Maddie sifted through the shelves in a little clothing shop constructed of rough wood and iron.  The shop itself was shaky but the clothes that they found spoke of real talents in the native tailors; soft white cottons and linens, even lace.  “Here!” she called, handing a bundle of ivory cloth over to Dannycup on the other side of the screen.  “These are lovely.  Try them on!”

Danny did as instructed, trying on another set of white clothing.  He liked the pants she gave him, a soft ivory linen that was loose on his hips, billowing around his ankles and legs.  He liked the idea of wearing them while barefoot on the beach…

However, none of the shirts seemed to work for him!  They were either too fanciful or too simple.  He was about to give up and just continue to wear Vlad’s shirt, when he noticed a soft, strange piece of fabric in the pile.  He pulled it out, brows shooting up as he realized he was holding a large, thigh length blouse with long, billowing sleeves, entirely made of knit lace.  It was soft with a wide scoop collar that barely kept the sleeves on his shoulders when he put it on.  He blushed a bit when he realized the shirt was pretty much see through, but just covering enough to be… alluring, beautiful even.

He finally stepped out from behind the screen, long black hair braided over one shoulder with a white ribbon.  He smiled at Maddie unsurely, raising his arms for her to inspect.  “Well?”

“Ahhhhh, c'est magnifique!” the woman enthused.  She cupped his face, beaming at him.  “You’re beautiful!  The picture of a pirate bride!”  

He flushed, but smiled back excitedly.  “Looks like I’m finally ready to get married then…”

And not a moment too soon it seemed, for when they both got back to the beach, they found a good portion of the crew there waiting for them, with Vlad speaking to the island’s priest.  The sun was just about to set.  

It was finally time.

Maddie offered her arm to Danny.  “May I have the honor~?”

Danny beamed up at her, taking it happily.  “Of course!”

As the sun began to set, the two began to walk down that little makeshift aisle in the sand, lined with pumice and wildflowers, pirates and islanders on either side of them.  At the end of it – just where the ocean frothed against the sand – Vlad waited, his hair long and loose, fluttering in the breeze and shining like platinum in the coming twilight.  He wore a loose, billowing white shirt and fitted black breeches.  Like Danny, he was barefoot… and also like Danny, his face was beautiful in blissful anticipation, watching his bride come ever closer.

When they reached him, Maddie took Danny’s hand and held it out to Vlad so he could take the boy’s hand.  As Danny’s hand was enveloped in Vlad’s much larger one, the priest came forward and began to speak to them in his own language, a prayer of sorts it seemed.  While he did this, he wrapped a small length of white rope around their wrists.  

The whole time the priest spoke, sometimes in english, sometimes not, Danny couldn’t take his eyes away from his soon-to-be husband.

Vlad smiled softly and pressed their foreheads together.  “Did you ever think our wedding would turn out like this?” he asked quietly, nuzzling his bride and practically glowing with happiness.  “Before I set out, I always envisioned our wedding as something small – in your barn, with flowers collected from the fields.  Just us two…”

Danny smiled sweetly, nuzzling back and stepping a little closer into Vlad’s embrace.  “I pictured it too.  But this… this is our new, bright future.  You went out and got it, just for us… just for me…”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head in wonder.  “A life out at sea, where no one could ever separate us again, full of wonder and adventure…  It’s more than I could have ever dreamed…”

Vlad rubbed the little tie of thread – worn and white – that had stayed on Danny’s finger ever since that night in the Haunted Swamp.  “Yes…”

“Do you, Plasmius Vladley Masters, take Dannycup as your lawfully wedded partner, as long as you both shall live?” the priest asked, in his heavily accented voice.

The silver-haired man gently kissed Danny’s forehead.  “I do.”

“And do you, Dannycup, take–”

“YES!”  Danny blurted out, smiling so wide it looked like his face hurt.  He blushed when he realised he had interrupted the priest, causing the small gathering to break out into laughter.  He ducked his head shyly, but was still smiling.  “I-I mean, yes.  Yes, I do…”

He looked up to meet Vlad’s eyes.  “As long as I live…”

The priest smiled and nodded, closing his book.  “Then, in the eyes of all who live, you are now married!  You may kiss the bride.”

Vlad didn’t waste any time.  He immediately gathered Danny in his arms – taking the young man’s feet right off the ground – pulled him close, and kissed him hard, warm, and deep.  The onlookers roared in approval, hooting and hollering and firing off their pistols into the sky.  Maddie and Jack both let out loud whistles and laughed, wrapping their arms around one another.

Danny lost himself in that kiss, the first kiss of many from his husband.  He tangled his fingers in Vlad’s long silver hair, pressing back as best he could with his body completely off the ground, and kissed Vlad with all the love and passion he could muster.  It seemed to last forever, and when Danny finally pulled back in order to gasp for some much needed air, he couldn’t help but blink in surprise as he found they were moving.  Away from the others, away from the beach…

“Vlad…?”

The pirate captain silenced his bride with another deep, hot kiss.  Danny went limp in his arms, sighing into his mouth and pressing back – then a yelp escaped him when Vlad tossed him up and caught him bridal style.  “AH!  Hey!”

“Hahahahaha!”  

Vlad grinned as he broke into a jog, his bare feet finding their way from sand to wood.  They were on the dock now, traveling quickly towards his ship.

Danny’s face was bright red but he couldn’t help but laugh in the face of Vlad’s sudden burst of excitement as he was jostled around in the man’s arms.  “O-oh, slow down, will you! The ship isn’t going anywhere!”

He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Vlad’s shoulders, pressing his face into his neck and nuzzling him there, lips brushing against his ear.  “I’m not going anywhere~”

Vlad nipped Danny’s other ear and grinned.  “Darn right, you’re not.”

He leapt aboard the ship, finally slowing back down to a walk as he carried his bride across the deck – kissing all the way to the door of the captain’s cabin.  A tiny little whine of want spilled past the boy’s lips as he was pressed into the door, kisses getting sloppy as Danny found it harder and harder to breathe.  He could feel his body heating up as he realized… this was it.  This was the moment Vlad was going to take him, take the last of his innocence, and make them one…

His body shivered in nerves, anticipation and desire, eyes heavy lidded and dark with want as he clung to the man tighter, face blushed an alluring pink.

“V-Vlad…”

The older man kicked open the door and smiled playfully down at the boy, a bit of flustered pink mantling his cheeks as well.  “Time to carry the bride over the threshold!” he joked, and stepped into his chambers.  “Woop~”

Danny laughed breathlessly, hiding his face in the man’s chest.  “You goofball!  Hahaha!”

“Danny…”

The young man fell silent… then swallowed, blinking big blue eyes up at Vlad.  The look on his face sent goosebumps down his back.  “…I love you…” the captain murmured.  “You know that, right…?”

Danny’s eyes widened slightly and he swallowed thickly, unable to respond for a moment.  The intense look on his husband’s face, focus solely on him… it took his breath away…

“I kn-know… I love you too, so much…”

Vlad’s mouth sealed over Danny’s, pulling a whine from the boy as he bore down on him.  The bed squeaked and rocked when their combined weight eased down on it; the pirate captain took off his shirt and cast it aside, his hands quickly returning to Danny’s throat and sides, feeling his way down his bride’s lovely, slender hips…

“Ah… ah!”  Danny gasped as Vlad slid his large, warm hands up under his lacy shirt, the material bunching under his arms as his older lover felt his soft, untouched skin.  His back arched when nimble fingers rubbed and pinched his pink nipples, making him moan and squeal.  

The shirt was finally lifted over his head and thrown from the bed, leaving Danny in just his loose, linen pants.  He squirmed under Vlad, reaching up to take hold of his long hair and pull him down for another kiss, panting little cries of pleasure into his mouth.  “V-Vlad!  Ah!”

Vlad pressed a long, heated kiss into Danny’s lips… and then slowly pulled back.

They locked eyes.  Something passed between them.

And the pirate captain slowly sunk down between Danny’s legs.  The young man shivered in anticipation, feeling his husband’s rough, callused hands slide – torturously sweet and gradual – down his thighs, gently raising them.  Vlad placed a soft kiss on Danny’s exposed stomach…

Efficiently, he pulled the strings loose on his bride’s white pants, and lowered them… revealing the boy’s half-masted erection.

Danny turned bright red and mewled, head falling back as he felt Vlad’s eyes devour his length.  “Stop… staring…!” he panted.

He bucked his hips up towards his husband. “Come oOOOOH!!”

A warm, big mouth swallowed him whole.  Danny jumped, pleasure coursing through his veins, and he bit down on his fingers to stifle the noise as Vlad worked up and down – the sounds that reached his ears making him go even redder.  “V-V… ahhh…”

Vlad closed his eyes, letting his tongue do the work as he lowered Danny’s pants the rest of the way.  Reaching into his pocket, the captain pulled out a bottle of special, scented oil that had been a wedding present from one of his crew; it was guaranteed to do the trick.

The young man’s soft rear settled against the sheets.

Danny panted heavily at the feeling, eyes lidded and dark with lust.  “Vl… ad…”  

He raised his hips – wholeheartedly offering himself to his husband.  “P-Please…!” he groaned, primal, instinctual sensations spreading his legs and arms, opening himself up fully.  Vlad poured a handful of the stuff into his hand, rubbing it in well.  The scent of canola filled the air; the beautiful boy’s pink, puckered entrance quivered under his waiting, dripping fingers.  “I… I want you…!”

A finger slipped in.

Danny gasped, his expression contorting.  “AH–!”

Vlad continued to pleasure him – drawing his tongue up and down his bride’s red, agitated manhood – slicking it with his saliva as he stroked Danny’s inner walls.  The beautiful young man twitched and squeezed around him, getting used to the strange sensation of being stretched… then, when groans and whimpers turned to sighs and pleasured pleas, Vlad added a second finger.

Danny whined and bucked under the intrusion, groaning as it slid in easily enough alongside the other.  The oil slicked the way, softening his insides and making the stretch easy and comfortable.  He cried out when Vlad scissored his fingers, spreading them, and him, open wider.  He twitched, unable to stop his hips from shaking and moving back against his husbands hand, desperate for more.

“Mmm…ah!  V-Vlad!”  he moaned, reaching down to grip his lover’s shoulders.  He gasped when Vlad slid his tongue lower, past the base of his erection and laved at his balls, making the soft skin twitch beneath the wet touch.  “A-ah, if you d-do that, I-’ll– AHH!”

His head flew back with a gasp and his legs spread even wider as Vlad plunged in a third finger without warning, spreading him wide and gaping open, aching.  His legs twitched in the air as he gasped heavily, face flushed red in arousal.  “Ah ah ah… ah!”

So close… he was so close and yet not close enough.  But god, it felt so good!

“Please!”  he begged, head shaking from side to side against the bedding as he mewled, losing himself to the feel of his husband’s touch and hot breath.  “P-please, m-more!”

Vlad licked a long, wet stripe up the pulsing vein of Danny’s shaft, then pulled off of him and wiped his mouth, dark eyes burning down at him.  His bride was a panting, flushing mess beneath him, whining and squeezing around his fingers so hard it took actual effort to keep them in…

The older man breathed out, mouth open and eyes lidded, and unbuttoned his trousers.

Danny’s breath caught in his throat as his eyes snapped down at the action, widening slightly as his gaze wandered down tight, toned muscles.  Danny had only ever seen Vlad without his shirt when he was working the fields, and during those few months they shared the same bed.  But not once had he seen… well, MORE…

His swallowed thickly as those big hands went back to his pants, and slowly pulled them down.

His heavy shaft pulled free.  

Danny’s eyes were huge in shock and he whimpered at the sight, cheeks turning even redder.  “Oh god…”  he moaned, a tremor of lust sliding down his spine.  “You’re as hung as a horse…”

Vlad let out a breathless laugh and gently pulled his fingers from Danny.  The young man moaned, squeezing around them as they retreated.  “N-No…. ahhhh…!” he moaned, as if truly in distress.  “Come back…!  Put… AH…!”

His spine jerked, back arched and eyes wide, as Vlad pressed his tip into his waiting entrance.  A small gurgle of sound slipped past his lips, like he had choked on his own spit as his husband pressed just a bit forward… just a bit–

“A-ahhnn!”  he cried, moaning wantonly as the head slid in past his soft, mouthing entrance.  He reached up and grabbed the back of Vlad’s head, tugging slightly on his hair as he sank in another inch, so painfully slow…

He didn’t want slow.  No, his insides were spasming and squeezing around Vlad so desperately, trying to draw him in, to fill him up!  He didn’t want SLOW!!

“G-give it to m-me…”  he gasped, lips brushing the shell of the older man’s ears, warm and wet.  He licked up the side of his neck, eyes lidded and body quaking with want.  “Please… give it t-to me–!”

Vlad felt something give.

Immediately, he slammed past the last ring of muscles and struck deep inside Danny.

“AAAHHhhh!!”  his bride screamed, head falling back against the bedding as his back arched, pressing his ass as snug as possible to his husband’s pelvis.  He moaned, sobbing brokenly in pleasure with how DEEP Vlad was, filling up to near bursting…

“V-Vlad… Vlad… ahnn… ahhh!”

Silver hair, sweat, the feeling of hard, tanned skin pressed against his body – everything faded away, all except Vlad, as the older man thrust arduously in and out.  The swell of his muscular chest pressed Danny down into the bed; the beautiful boy let out a high-pitched, broken sound, hearing the quiet squelch and smack of skin on skin… getting faster and faster as the sun went down.  Vlad took his time taking his new bride apart.  Every time he felt Danny’s breath catch, his insides twitch, he would slow down to torturous levels, staving off the young man’s impending orgasm.  The moment he felt him relax again, falling away from the cliff’s edge, he would speed up once more and lay into him, nailing his prostate with every other thrust.  The boy was reduced to a wailing, keening mess, tears of pleasure slipping down his cheeks and his pink mouth open and crying Vlad’s name.  

Danny ran his nails down his husband’s back, sobbing as he begged for him to speed up, to let him come, please let him come…

But for the longest time, Vlad wasn’t swayed, and Danny became a right mess in that bed covered in sweat and precum.  That is, until, his hands slipped down the pirate captain’s back, and took a firm hold of the older man’s ass…

And dug his nails in HARD.

Vlad’s eyes rolled back in his head, and his hips hitched, slamming in so hard Danny bounced against the headboard.  Stars winked behind the boy’s eyes; his insides felt like they were on FIRE as his husband’s hips were suddenly thrusting in hard, fast, and shallow.

“Ah ah ah AHH!! AHHH!  V-VLAD!!”  Danny cried, his hold only tightening as he held onto Vlad.

“D-Dann – ah ah AH!!”

Vlad’s fingers dug into the beautiful boy’s hips, sheathing himself fully inside and staying there… his breath heavy and slow as his seed pumped into Danny, filling him up from the inside.  He heard the boy’s breath catch and hiccup next to his ear, felt his body tense and seize as he reached his own orgasm.  But most of all, he felt how Danny’s insides clenched down on his cock so tightly, squeezing around him in spastic, twitching motions in time with Danny’s own twitching cock as it spurted cum across his chest.  

Danny whined and clung to Vlad as he slowly came down from his orgasmic high, hips still quivering and ass still spasming and milking at the older man’s cock.  His body was slow to relax, but when it did he all but went limp, limbs feeling heavy and used.  He panted, turning his head just enough to nuzzle against Vlad’s ear, chuckling breathlessly.

“W-wow…”

Vlad laughed too, still breathing hard as he pulled away, kissing Danny gently.  “Worth… the wait?” he whispered slyly.

“Mmn, very~”  Danny giggled, moving in slow, tired motions, as he wrapped his long legs around Vlad’s waist, keeping him deep inside.  “So very much worth the wait…”

He beamed up at the man, leaning in for another kiss.  “You, will always be worth the wait…”

Vlad smiled happily and leaned down, accepting the gentle press of lips against his own.  “I’m the only prince for you, my bride…” he murmured playfully.  He pulled the blankets up around them and snuggled in – the moon illuminating his soft, pale hair like a silver halo.  “Always~”

Danny tucked his head under his husband’s chin, a quiet smile on his lips as he toyed with the little piece of thread around his ring finger…

“Always…”


End file.
